Chopper's Worst Nightmare
by KipperCat25
Summary: Chopper has a nightmare in which Captain Buggy returns and terrorizes a town a few thousand miles away. But it isn't just an ordinary nightmare...this one is true. The crew is largely unprotected, and Buggy is after them. Will he find them? Or will Luffy pull it together and keep his crew safe? AU LuNa
1. Chopper's Dreams

**This is my first story! I hope you like it XD**

**I don't know how many chapters I'm going to make out of this. So I guess we'll just have to see. ;)  
**

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"AHHHH!" Chopper burst into Nami's room, "He's gonna kill me! Help!"

Chopper had tears running down his face. "Aw, Chopper," Nami said, "It was just a dream. It wasn't real."

"But…but…I _saw _it! Buggy was running around screaming, 'I'm gonna kill you!' and aiming a gun at me!"

"It's okay, Chopper," Nami said while rubbing Chopper's back and giving him a hug.

Chopper had stopped crying, but was still whimpering, when Luffy burst in with Zoro right behind him, still fastening his swords to his belt. "What's going on? I thought I heard Chopper screaming."

"You did," Nami explained. "Chopper was having a nightmare."

Zoro chuckled. "All that screaming for a nightmare? Must have been some dream. What was it about?"

"B-Buggy was r-running around and screaming and aiming a gun at me. It's not true, is it, Zoro?" Chopper asked, stressed.

Zoro's eyes got wide. "What was Buggy screaming, Chopper?" He had an anxious look on his face.

"He said, 'I'm gonna kill you!'"

Zoro gasped. "No, it can't be! There has to be some mistake!"

"What? What is it, Zoro?" Chopper asked.

"That dream…" Zoro turned around and ran out of the room.

"I wonder what that was all about?" Nami wondered aloud.

While Zoro was gone, all of the others came into Nami's room.

"What's going on?" Usopp asked.

"That's the same thing I was going to say," Sanji said.

"Chopper had a nightmare, and now Zoro seems to be really freaked out," Nami explained.

"That doesn't sound like Zoro," Robin said.

"I know. I wonder why he was so upset?" Nami wondered.

A minute later, Zoro ran back in with a portable battery-powered radio in his hand. "Listen to this! I recorded it yesterday and was going to show you this morning, but I guess now I have to show you now…" He pressed the POWER button on the radio and then the PLAY button. "Listen!" He said.

Zoro had recorded a news announcement.

"_The following is breaking news! Captain Buggy was seen running around the town square earlier this morning with a loaded weapon. Witnesses say he was also screaming a phrase that sounded something like, 'I'm gonna kill you!' and was also aiming the gun at someone. No one, however, could confirm who he was pointing the gun at. Police are working on tracking him down as we speak."_

For about a minute after the news recording ended, everyone just stared at one another in shock. Then everyone started talking at once.

"Is it possible?" Usopp asked.

"How?" Nami asked.

"I don't know how this is possible, but I have an idea," Zoro said.

"AHHH! What is happening to me?" Chopper cried.

"Well," Zoro said, after everyone had calmed down, "It seems as though Chopper is not only a doctor, but also a dream prophet."

"What's that?" Chopper whimpered.

"It means you dream about events that have actually happened without ever knowing them beforehand," Zoro explained. "This Buggy thing happened before you dreamed it, though. You may improve and dream things before they happen, like dream prophets are supposed to."

"It would be a useful tool, I suppose," Luffy said.

Chopper just stared at Zoro for a minute, and then started crying again. "I d-don't believe you," he said, "I bet it was just a one-time thing."

"Well," Zoro said, "We'll just have to see."

-The Next Night-

Everyone was sound asleep. Well, except Chopper. Chopper had just had another nightmare, and he was scared of what it was about. Zoro had made Chopper listen to all of the news from the past week so if he had a dream, he would know when it came from. Except, the dream Chopper had just had wasn't anything from the news.

Chopper walked down the hall to Nami's room. The door was ajar, and he could see Nami curled up in her bed with her blankets wrapped around her. He didn't want to bother her, because she looked so comfortable. But he had no choice because Nami was the only one on the Straw Hat Crew who Chopper fully trusted, other than Zoro. Everyone else had made fun of him at some point for being short. But he didn't want to wake up Zoro, because he got mad when he was woken up in the middle of the night.

"Nami?" Chopper called softly.

"Uhnn…Chopper?" Nami rolled over and saw Chopper standing in her doorway. "Is something wrong?"

"Well…" Chopper said, walking in, "I'm really scared."

"Was it another dream?"

"Y-yeah. But, this time, it wasn't anything on the news. At least, not yet."

Nami gasped. "So it was something that hasn't happened yet?"

"I think. Or I guess it could just be a normal dream, but after what Zoro said yesterday, I highly doubt it."

"What was it about?" Nami asked.

"Buggy was caught after doing that thing two days ago, and they put him in jail. Then he used his Chop-Chop power and escaped in seven different pieces."

"Chopper…," Nami said, softly, "I think we better get Zoro. He might know what to do."

Nami got up and walked out of the room, with Chopper holding her hand. They headed down the hall to Zoro's room. She got to his door, listened for a second, and then opened it. Zoro was laying in bed, snoring.

Chopper let go of Nami's hand and walked over to Zoro. Out of the whole crew, Chopper and Luffy were the only ones who could get Zoro to wake up without smothering him. Nami covered her ears, knowing what was coming next.

"ZORO!" Chopper screamed at the top of his lungs, so loud that the glass in the window shook.

Zoro rolled over, grunting. Chopper got up on the bed, put one foot on Zoro's stomach and pushed.

Zoro shot out of bed, gasping. Nami stifled a giggle, then walked over and helped Chopper up from the floor where he had been thrown when Zoro got up.

"What do you want?" Zoro said rudely, then calmed down when he saw Chopper. "Another dream?" he asked.

Chopper nodded.

"What was it this time? Was it one of the things on the news that you listened to yesterday?"

Chopper shook his head.

Zoro's eyes got wide. "It was in the future?" He said, incredulous.

"Yeah," Chopper said, softly.

"Man, you improved fast. What happened in your dream?" Zoro sat down on his bed and motioned for Chopper to sit next to him.

Nami walked over and stood next to Chopper once he was seated.

"Well, it was after the Buggy incident two days ago," Chopper started, "And Buggy had been caught and was in jail. But he used his Chop-Chop power and split into seven pieces, then escaped."

"Was there anything else?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah." Chopper whimpered.

"Was it scary?" Nami asked.

"Yeah."

Zoro put his hand on Chopper's shoulder and patted it awkwardly. "Go on," he said.

Chopper swallowed. "Once Buggy escaped, he knocked out the prison guard and stole his clothes and gun. He put the clothes on and stuck the gun in his belt, then headed west, toward the b-beach."

"That's…where we are," Nami said, softly.

The Straw Hat Crew had lived in a house on the beach for a long time. They didn't want to live in town, because people might recognize them back from when they were all burglars, robbing banks and stores. So they chose an out-of-the-way beach that didn't even have a name. But everyone who lived there called it Crescent Beach.

Zoro stood and walked over to the window. "That could mean one of two things," he said. "It could mean that Captain Buggy knows where we are and is trying to find us, or he could have just headed in a random direction where the least amount of people live."

"So, either way, we're going to be in a really bad situation soon," Nami said.

"Yeah, pretty much."

Chopper stood and started pacing. "Sooner or later, I'm going to learn to accept my ability, so it might as well be now. I pledge that from now on, I will use my skill to help us, and I won't be afraid of it any longer."

"Wow, Chopper, that takes some bravery," Nami said, awed.

Even Zoro was impressed, although he didn't say it. He looked at the clock. 6:30 am. "We should probably get the others up and discuss what we're going to do now."

"Yeah," Nami said. "I'll go get dressed, and Zoro and Chopper can get everyone up."

"Okay," Zoro said, "I'll get Luffy, since I'm the only one who can wake him up."

"I'll get Usopp, Robin, and Sanji," Chopper said.

Zoro and Chopper went to get their respective crew members up. When everyone was up and awake and dressed, they all gathered in the kitchen.

"What is this about?" Luffy asked. "It's only 6:35 in the morning!"

"Sorry, Luffy, I know you like to sleep, but this is important," Zoro apologized.

"It better be," Usopp said.

Surprising everyone, Chopper stood on a chair and took lead of the meeting. "Calm down, people! The reason we are having this meeting is because of me, so I might as well explain it."

Chopper took a deep breath. "I had another dream last night. But this time it wasn't something from the past. It was something that is going to happen soon, and we are all in danger."

After that last statement, everyone started talking all at once.

"What do you mean?" Usopp said.

"How?" Luffy asked.

"I don't understand!" Robin said.

Chopper gave a piercing whistle, effectively shutting everyone up. "I'm not done!"

"Go ahead, Chopper," Nami said.

"Do you know that incident with Buggy that happened two days ago?"

Everyone nodded.

"Well, if it hasn't already happened, Buggy is going to be put in jail, but then he will use his Chop-Chop power and split into seven pieces and escape. He'll knock out the prison guard and take his clothes and gun to disguise himself, then he'll…" Chopper faltered.

"Then he'll what?" Luffy asked.

"He'll…come here."

"WHAT?" Usopp yelled, loud enough to wake the dead, "We have to leave now! Everyone start packing!" he pushed his chair away from the table and stood.

"Wait!" Chopper called.

Usopp paused.

"I don't know for sure that he'll come _here, _but he will head west from the jail, which _is _this way."

"So, you're pretty much just saying that we need to sit down and talk this over like civilized people?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Chopper said.

"Oh," Usopp sighed, defeated. "Okay." He sat down.

"So what should we do?" Robin asked, starting a very heated debate that would last until late morning.

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**So...how was it? Plz leave a review and ask any questions you might have. I'll be happy to answer!  
**


	2. The Packing Prank

**So, guys. This is chapter two of my first story. Hope you like it! XD**

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At the end of the debate, everyone had agreed on one thing-they would pack and get ready to leave, but they wouldn't leave until Chopper had some more dreams or the news said he was getting closer. It had taken a while to agree on that, since half of the crew wanted to leave now and the other half wanted to stay and face Captain Buggy.

Now everyone was in their rooms, packing. Luffy had finished packing early, since he didn't have to walk to get things. He could just stretch his arms or legs to reach it. Since he had finished so soon, he walked to Zoro's room to keep him company. Well, that wasn't the only reason. He also wanted to talk to him about Chopper.

"Hey, Zoro!" Luffy walked in to Zoro's room. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Let me guess, it's about Chopper," Zoro said, turning from his closet.

"Yeah," Luffy replied. "I was wondering what we would do if Chopper lost his mind."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Well, say if Chopper gets so tired of having his prophetic dreams that he gets crazy? Then what would we do?"

"He seems to have adjusted fairly quickly, and he seems proud to have a power that can help the crew. So I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it."

"How do you know that he's proud to have those dreams?" Luffy asked.

"This morning, when he and Nami came into my room to tell me, he said that sooner or later he would have to accept his ability, so it might as well be today, and he also said that he would use it to help the crew to the best of his ability and he wouldn't be afraid of it anymore," Zoro said.

"Wow," Luffy said, "That takes a lot of courage to say."

"Exactly what I thought. But, you know me, it's hard for me to express my feelings," Zoro replied. "Except for you. I've known you the longest, so I feel that I need to protect and defend you, and I'm not going to be shy about it."

Luffy grinned. "That's just what I needed to hear, buddy!"

Zoro grunted. "Want to help me finish packing?" He motioned to a bunch of identical green and white outfits laid out on the bed.

"No." Luffy stood up and walked out of the room.

Zoro rolled his eyes. "That jerk." Then he went back to packing.

Thirty Minutes Later

Zoro had just finished packing and was dragging his suitcase down the hall to the stairs, where he would leave it until it was time to go.

He realized that he was the first one to bring his luggage out, and he wondered why no one else had. So he walked back down the hall to Sanji's room, and then entered without knocking. Sanji had strict rules when it came to his room, and one of them was that no one was allowed to enter without knocking. But Zoro goes out of his way to disobey every single one of Sanji's rules, and that's probably why the two of them were always bickering.

So, naturally, when Zoro walked in, Sanji started up.

"ZORO! Why didn't you knock like you were supposed to?"

Zoro grunted. "Who cares about your stupid rules?"

Sanji gasped. "How dare you say something so offensive to someone as nice as me!"

Chuckling, Zoro said, "I don't think you're nice. That's why you make up all these dumb rules, just to have an excuse to yell at me."

That accusation was actually true. Zoro had overheard Sanji telling Luffy why he had made the rules when they were eating in the dining room and he had been late. Zoro has never let Sanji hear the end of it since.

Sanji just stood there, staring at Zoro. Then he really let loose with everything he had. Unfortunately, he couldn't swear, because he had made a solemn oath to never say a bad word when he was two years old. So he substituted with other words instead.

"You are such a loud-mouthed muffin head! I hate you and I think you should live in an old-people home! Your guts are probably the color of pickles because you're so SICK! And not in the cool way either! Get your donkey's behind out of here!"

Then he pushed Zoro outside and slammed the door in his face.

But Zoro still had to play his trump card. "By the way, Sanji, if I did live in an old people home, everyone there would be dead because I would get annoyed with how slow and unfit everyone is. And I don't have a donkey; therefore I don't have to get out of your room, because you said to get my 'donkey's behind' out of your room."

Zoro knew that now, Sanji would get so upset that he would charge the door, throw it open, and punch whatever was outside. So he quickly turned and walked away, but not before he had pulled the cabinet that was in the hallway over to the door. Then he hid in his doorway and waited.

Sure enough, a minute later, there was this horrible scream, and Sanji's door flew open. A fist flew out the door and smacked into the cabinet. Then there was a loud wail, and Zoro couldn't help but laugh. He tried to muffle it with his sleeve, but Sanji heard. He turned his head and saw Zoro cracking up, then marched towards him, holding his hurting hand against his body.

It happened every day. Sanji would try to fight Zoro by punching and kicking him, and Zoro would just stand there and take it since it didn't hurt him at all. Then Sanji would get mad and scream, "WHY AREN'T YOU DOING ANYTHING?" and Zoro would laugh and walk away. Then Sanji would lose his steam and go back in his room.

Sure enough, that's what happened again today. When it was all over, Zoro went downstairs to the kitchen, but not before noticing that Nami and Robin's luggage had joined his at the top of the stairs. He hoped they weren't expecting him to carry it down for them.

He rummaged through the cupboards for a while, trying to find something to eat, when he realized he was being watched. Chopper had a hiding place on top of the cupboards where he went when he was either scared or trying to surprise someone. So that's where Zoro looked first.

Sure enough, Chopper was there. He climbed down and sat at the table when he saw that Zoro had found him.

"What's up?" Zoro asked.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"What about?"

"You know what."

"Umm, actually I don't," Zoro said, confused.

"You know! My…power."

"Oh. What about your power?"

"Will I get dreams every night? Or only when they're important? And will they always be scary? And will I always see the future? And will I—"

"Whoa, whoa! One question at a time."

"Sorry. Will I get dreams every night?"

"Possibly. From what I've read, a person can think about the type of dream they want to have, and then they'll have it. For example, if you want to know what the weather will be a week from now, think of that before you fall asleep, and then you'll dream about it."

Chopper sat up straighter. "So they won't always be scary?"

"Not necessarily. Like I said, you have control over your dreams now, so I guess it depends on what you want to dream about."

Zoro found a snack for both of them and brought it to the table. "Any more questions?"

"Yeah, actually," Chopper said, taking some crackers from the plate, "Will I always see the future in my dreams? Or can I control that, too?"

Zoro thought about that for a minute. "That's a good question," he said. "I don't know. I'll have to do some more research."

Chopper frantically tried to think of another question to keep Zoro distracted while Nami and Robin switched his luggage. They were putting his luggage in Robin's suitcase, which was bright pink with flowers, and her luggage in his suitcase, which was plain black with a brown stripe going across the middle. Nami would stomp on the floor above the kitchen when they were done.

"Umm…does the person I'm dreaming about know that I'm dreaming about them?" He was proud of himself for thinking up that one.

"Hmm. I don't know about that either, but I'm assuming that unless that person has a special connection with you, they won't know that you're dreaming about them." Zoro took a bite of his cracker. "You're just worried that Buggy knows you see him and is coming here faster, aren't you?"

Chopper jumped at the opportunity. "Yeah," he said, a little sheepishly. He actually _was _afraid of that, now that Zoro mentioned it.

"It's okay to be afraid of things," Zoro said. "I'm afraid of a few things too, although there's _no way _I'm telling you what they are."

Chopper frowned. He was wondering what Zoro's weaknesses were, but apparently he was too well trained to divulge them.

"Zoro, I have a question for you. It doesn't have anything to do with my powers, though."

"What is it?"

"I was wondering," Chopper said, taking a few crackers with cheese, "Do you like baseball?"

"Uhh," Zoro was surprised. That was a totally random question. He started getting the faintest idea that Chopper was trying to distract him. But he decided to go along with it for now. He might be wrong, anyway.

"Yeah, I guess. Well, actually, it's my favorite sport. I used to play it with the kids in my neighborhood before I became a really good swordsman."

"What position did you play?" Chopper was actually genuinely interested now. This was the first time he had heard anything about Zoro's life as a child.

"I played first base. It was my favorite position ever. I flat-out _refused _to play any other position, other than pitcher. But some kid had dibs on it, so I stuck with first base."

Suddenly, there was a stomping on the floor above them.

"What was that?" Zoro asked.

"I don't know," Chopper said, faking a nervous glance at the ceiling.

"I better go check it out. You stay here," Zoro got up and headed for the door, one hand on his swords.

He hoped that Buggy hadn't already caught up to them and climbed in the upstairs, although he highly doubted it. The earliest Buggy could have escaped was today, and the Townsenders Jail was 2,000 miles away. There was _no way_ he had reached the beach yet.

When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he realized something. He hadn't listened to the news yet today. He would have to do that after he checked everything out.

Zoro silently climbed the stairs to the top. Then he stopped, listening. The only things he heard were the normal things, Nami and Robin talking, Usopp singing, etc. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But he still moved silently down the hall, looking into each room that he passed that had windows. He figured that was the only way Buggy could've gotten in upstairs. If he would have come in downstairs, Zoro would have heard or seen him. All of the windows in the upstairs were closed, except for the one in Nami's room. Robin was in there with her, and they were whispering about something. He hated to interrupt them, but he had to ask.

"Hey guys," he said, sticking his head into the room, "Have you seen anyone up here?"

Nami looked at him with an oddly blank face. "No, why?"

"Well, Chopper and I were downstairs in the kitchen eating a snack when we heard some banging coming from up here. Did either of you hear it?"

Robin and Nami looked at each other, their faces faintly confused. "No," Robin said. "Maybe you were dreaming or something."

Zoro left. As soon as he left, he heard the girls burst into giggles. He wondered what was so funny, but decided it wasn't important.

As he walked back down the hallway, he noticed that his luggage was positioned differently than it had been earlier. He figured that one of the girls had moved it to make more room for theirs. Still, something felt wrong. He shrugged it off and headed back down to the kitchen.

While he had been gone, someone had eaten all of the crackers and cheese, leaving him with the crumbs. Zoro scowled. He hated when people did that.

He walked over to the cupboard to get some more crackers when he realized that Chopper was no longer in the room. He shrugged. Chopper was probably bored of waiting and had gone outside to climb trees, like he always does. Instead, Luffy had taken his place. He was covered in sweat.

"Well at least now I know who ate all the food," Zoro remarked, scowling.

Luffy grinned. "Yup!" he said. "You know my appetite!"

"Why are you so happy?" Zoro asked.

"Oh! I just set my new record for the long jump! My old record was about 23 feet. My new record is over 29 feet! It took a lot of tries for me to do that, though," Luffy said, his face turning serious.

"I bet it did. The long jump is the only event in the Olympics that I get second in. I bet that's why you're rubbing it in my face. Plus, you don't even jump normally. You stretch your legs really far and then do a little hop. It's totally not fair."

"Yeah…It makes you jealous, doesn't it?" Luffy grinned.

"A little. Anyway, did you hear the banging on the floor upstairs a few minutes ago?"

"Banging? No."

Zoro scowled. "I must be losing my marbles."

Luffy stood, his eyes wide. "You lost your marbles? What color are they? Let's go look for them!"

Zoro laughed. "You make some pretty good jokes, Luffy."

Luffy looked at Zoro. "I was being serious."

"Oh."

"So you really didn't lose your marbles?"

"No. I don't even have any marbles. It's a figure of speech that means I'm going nuts, hearing things that weren't there."

"Oh." Luffy sat back down.

"Hey! I forgot! I need to listen to the news." Zoro got up and went upstairs to his room, where his radio was. He turned it on, went to the recording setting, and hit PLAY PREVIOUS. Then he listened.

_"An update on the Captain Buggy case! Police took him into custody an hour ago, but he didn't stay there for long. A prison guard who was lying on the floor next to Buggy's cell said that, 'he broke into seven pieces and floated through the bars. Then he switched clothes with me and took my gun after knocking me out.' No one knows if the prison guard was telling the truth, or if he was in shock. We will try to have another update for you soon."_

For a while, Zoro just stared. Then he realized everyone was heading downstairs to eat dinner. So he turned off his radio and went down after them.

When everyone had gotten their food and was seated, Zoro stood.

"I have some news," he announced.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

Zoro had planned on making a detailed announcement, but then decided that two simple words would work just as well.

"He's out."

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**What do you think? Do you think Zoro sounds a little too scholarly? Make sure to review and tell me what you think! And if you like the story, please be sure to recommend it to other FF members! Thanks XD**


	3. Luffy Goes Missing

**Chapter 3! I've been working hard on this story, as you can probably tell, since I've posted one chapter every day. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep that up, though. I might not have as much time to work on it in the coming weeks. So don't be surprised if there is a gap of a couple days before I post the next chapter.**

**Anyway, _bon appetit! _  
**

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For a while, everyone just stared at Zoro. Then there was complete pandemonium. Well, sort of. Usopp was the only one who lost it and started screaming.

"Oh no!" Usopp screamed. "We have to leave _now_! If we don't, we'll all be dead! Noooo!"

"WAIT!" Chopper yelled. "Remember our agreement? We can't leave until either I have more dreams or there is another news announcement."

"Right! So let's all just hang tight until that time comes," Zoro said. Then he sat back down and started eating.

After a minute, everyone else did too. But the happy, upbeat conversation had changed into a quieter, more serious tone. Everyone was worried about what was coming in the days ahead.

"Hey Zoro?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah?"

"Where are we going to go? I mean, do we have a safe house or something ready?" Luffy shoved a big spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth.

"Yeah, actually. We have a seven-story condo with six flat screen TV's and a heated pool waiting for us."

Luffy started choking on his potatoes. Zoro chuckled and reached over to pound Luffy's back until he could breathe.

"Really?" Luffy exclaimed, wiping tears from his eyes.

"No, I'm just kidding. But that _would _be nice," Zoro said with a wistful glance at the ceiling.

Luffy glared at Zoro for a minute, then resumed eating. He reached over Zoro for the bowl of mashed potatoes when Zoro caught his arm. Luffy looked at Zoro, and Zoro jerked his head towards the window. Luffy knew he wanted to talk to him outside.

Luffy nodded and with one more glance at the potatoes, stood. "Catch you guys later!" he said, then headed for the door.

Zoro scowled. Luffy was going to make it hard for him to leave and go outside without looking suspicious.

A few minutes later, Zoro stood, pushed his plate away, and declared, "I'm full," before walking to the door to join Luffy outside. He knew it wasn't the _best _way to leave inconspicuously, but it the best he could do.

Zoro knew Luffy would be up in a tree somewhere, waiting for him to walk under it so he could jump on him. So he walked around with his eyes up the whole time. After a while of walking and checking every single tree, Zoro started getting the faintest tingling feeling, the hairs on the back of his neck rising. He wheeled around just in time to see Luffy spring out of a bush and tackle him.

He tried his best not to fall, but couldn't stop Luffy's momentum. So he went sprawling on the ground, with Luffy perched on top of him.

"Get off me!" Zoro growled.

Seeing his face, Luffy jumped off.

Zoro pulled himself to his feet with a grunt. "I wanted you to come out here so I could talk to you about where we're going to go."

"So _do _you have a place for us to stay?"

"Yeah, but I don't know how we're going to get there. We have to drive 50 miles to get to the train station, then board the train and ride for twelve hours north. Then I guess we'll have to rent a car or two or three and drive a couple hours to the house."

"…So what's the problem?"

"It's our car. That rusty piece of junk won't even get us halfway to the railway station."

"Oh." Luffy scratched his head. "I guess that _is_ a problem."

"Yeah," Zoro said, gruffly, "Glad you figured that out."

"I'll think about it," Luffy said. "You really need some sleep. You're eyes are all puffy and drooped like a rotten grapefruit, so maybe you should go to bed early."

"Gee thanks," Zoro said, sarcastically. "Well it's not my fault that I was awakened by Chopper and Nami this morning at six o clock, and yesterday even earlier. So I think that's a good excuse."

"You can't blame Chopper for that," Luffy said. "He's just scared and trying to help."

"I know, but I really could use a good night's sleep. So I think I'll go to bed in a little while. But for now, I'm going to do some more research on Chopper's ability." Then Zoro turned and walked back inside, leaving Luffy sitting on the grass in the middle of the yard.

When he passed the kitchen, he realized that everyone had finished eating and were gathered in the living room in front of the TV, probably watching some movie. He walked past them and headed upstairs to his room.

The laptop was the only thing Zoro needed that he hadn't packed yet. He figured he would need it before they left.

While he waited for his laptop to boot up, he went over to the window and looked out. Luffy was still out there, lying on the grass with his arms behind his head.

Zoro chuckled. He hoped it didn't get too cold tonight, because Luffy would freeze.

He went back over to his laptop, saw that it had booted up, and sat down in front of it at his desk. He clicked on the "internet" icon and typed "prophetic dreamers-side affects" into the search bar. Since the internet was very limited this far out, he only got three results.

The first result, a short page from GrandAnswers, didn't tell him anything. It pretty much just summed up everything he already knew. So he clicked back and hit the second link. It was from a site called "The ATE" which everyone figured stood for "The Answers to Everything". It was a pretty reliable site, so he read the whole thing.

What he saw astounded him. The site didn't just have side effects for prophetic dreamers. It also had a summary of what it was and how to control the dreams.

He learned that prophecy dreamers were actually a type of psychic and that most of them were short and had high-pitched voices.

_That pretty much sums up chopper right there, _Zoro thought.

After reading a little more, he got to the side effects section. The side effects were written in a list, with the most prominent ones at the top. As he skimmed through the list, he got even more worried.

**1) Nightmares***

**2) Eat more**

**3) Lose things easier**

**4) Start to forget things**

**5) Go crazy***

**6) Run away from home**

**7) Attempt to commit suicide without realizing it***

After reading that last one, Zoro saw that there was a note at the bottom for the ones with asterisks. So he read it.

***Were not proven as side effects from dream prophecies.***

That made Zoro feel a little better, but not much. He figured the not meant that some people with dream prophecies had those things happen to them, but doctors and scientists had never proven that they came from dream prophecies.

He exited out of the program and decided not to mention those side effects to anyone, but he would have to remember to keep a closer eye on Chopper.

Zoro powered down the laptop and looked at the clock. 9:45 pm. He might as well get some extra rest.

He got undressed and climbed into bed.

The Next Morning

Zoro was rudely awakened by Chopper and the others at 7:30. He was surprised that he had slept that long.

"What?" Zoro scowled.

"Have you seen Luffy lately?" Nami asked. She looked anxious.

"No, why?"

"We think he's gone missing," Sanji said. "None of us has seen him since last night."

"Are you sure he's not still sleeping in the yard? That's where he was last night after I came back inside." Zoro stood and pulled on his clothes, then fastened his swords to his belt.

"We already looked," Usopp said. "I'm really worried about him."

"Eh. He'll be fine. You know Luffy. He can take care of himself just fine." But in truth, Zoro was worried. Usually Luffy told him where he was going to be, but this time he hadn't. He figured Luffy had just forgotten.

"Well can you help us look around anyway?" Robin asked.

"Okay, fine. But let me get some food first," Zoro said, yawning.

"No!" Nami said. "Luffy is _missing. _Can you at least put him in front of your hunger for a _minute_?"

That made Zoro furious. "Luffy is my best friend," he growled, "and he is always my first concern. I've known him longer than any of you, so if I think he's fine, _he's fine._ Got that?" He glared at everyone in turn, stopping at Nami.

"Y-yeah." Nami said. "Sorry. I'm just worried."

"I understand that," Zoro said. "But don't _ever _question my relationship with Luffy."

"I won't do it again," Nami said.

Zoro nodded. "And I won't make fun of you for liking him."

Nami blushed. "How-? …Never mind."

Zoro chuckled. "I have my ways. So, is it a truce?" He stuck out his right hand.

"Truce." Nami shook his hand. "Sanji, can you go make us some breakfast?"

"Ugh, fine." Sanji turned and walked out of the room.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After breakfast, the crew went outside and played beach volleyball. They got the idea from Robin.

"If we're going to be leaving here soon," she said, "We might as well have some fun."

So now they were split up into two teams. Zoro, Nami, and Usopp were on one team, and Sanji, Robin, and Chopper were on the other.

"I don't think it's fair," Sanji complained. "Chopper is so small that he should only count as half a person."

Zoro chuckled. "Your loss," he said, then blew the whistle that hung from his neck.

To make Sanji happy, Nami had suggested that his team serve the ball first. He had readily accepted, but there was a _small_ problem. Sanji didn't know how to serve the ball.

He told Robin this, and she showed him how. His first attempt resulted in a point for Zoro's team, although Sanji _insisted _it was just his "practice" serve. So Zoro let him serve again, but he still took the point for his team.

His second serve made it over the net, but barely. Nami ran up and spiked the ball back over the net. Robin hit it back, and Usopp missed, giving a point to Sanji's team.

"Ha ha!" He taunted. "Your team sucks!"

"Shut up!" Zoro roared.

But Sanji just laughed and tossed the ball to Robin, since it was her turn to serve.

She served perfectly, making it over the net easily. Zoro ran back and bumped it back over. Chopper hit it, but it didn't go over the net. Luckily, Sanji saved him, hitting it over before it could touch the ground. Nami returned it easily, clearing the net my several feet. Sanji ran up to hit it, but before he could reach it, he tripped over his own feet and fell, the ball hitting the ground with a _thud _a few feet away.

Everyone laughed.

Sanji got to his feet and brushed the sand off his chest. "Why are you laughing?" he asked with a hurt look on his face. "If _you _fell, Zoro, I wouldn't be laughing at you."

"Sure you would. As a matter of fact, you would be laughing the hardest." Then he moved to the back of the court and served the ball.

This time, they kept the ball up in the air for a good ten minutes. Everyone was hot and covered in sweat by then, except Zoro.

"Come on, guys!" he encouraged. "You can't be tired _already!_"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed," Robin retorted, "None of us are as fit as _you._"

"True," Zoro replied, "But that doesn't mean you have to be _tired. _We've only been at this for ten minutes. The average person is supposed to get sixty minutes of physical activity per day."

"Well, maybe we're not _average people," _Usopp said.

"I guess not," Zoro said, chuckling.

Suddenly, there was a loud honking noise coming from the front of the house. It surprised everyone so much that they all froze. The ball hit the ground next to Sanji.

"It sounds like a car," Nami said. She sounded nervous.

Zoro had left his swords inside, so his fists would have to do. "Everyone get behind me."

"But you don't have your swords!" Chopper said.

Zoro shushed him, then whispered, "I know. My fists are good enough, though."

With everyone safely behind him, Zoro led the way, crouching close to the ground.

When he reached the front of the house, he hid behind some bushes and peered through. What he saw made him gasp.

"What? LUFFY?" he said. Then he ran out from the bushes with everyone else in tow.

When he saw everyone coming towards him, he grinned.

"Hey, guys! How do you like my new ride?"

Luffy was driving a shiny red sports car with tinted windows and plush seats.

"Luffy!" Nami abolished. "We've been so worried? Where were you?"

"At the car lot, duh! What do you think?"

Zoro just chuckled. "I guess that solves the problem," he said.

"Yeah," Luffy grinned. "You've still got that trailer thing, right?"

"Yeah, I think. For the luggage?"

"Yup. The luggage goes in the trailer, and we can all cram inside. And check this out!" he motioned to his right. "There's even a middle seat in the front!"

"Still, one of us will still have to sit on somebody else, or on the floor," Robin said. "But it's better than the other car, definitely."

"Hey, Luffy," Chopper said. "I just thought of something. How did you get to the car shop?"

"Yeah!" Zoro said. "How _did _you get there?"

"I walked." Luffy said.

"But…that's a long walk!" Nami said.

"Forty five miles," Zoro said.

"I've done more," Luffy said, with a wave of his hand.

"But aren't you tired?" Sanji asked.

"No, but I _am _hungry!" he said. "You can go make me some food."

Sanji rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said. "I just have to remember to triple all of the ingredients for you." Then he turned and walked away.

Everyone started walking away, going back inside or to play more volleyball.

Luffy shut off the engine and climbed out. "What have you been up to?" he asked, shutting the car door.

"We were just playing beach volleyball," Zoro said. "We kept it up for fifteen minutes, and then you came and ruined it."

"Oh. Sorry," Luffy apologized. He went to the front of the car and leaned on the hood. Then he said, "I can tell. The only time you ever have your shirt off is when you're either playing a sport, training, or sleeping." He grinned.

"Yeah, you're right." He took the whistle from around his neck and threw it back over to the volleyball court, hitting Sanji.

Sanji turned, but couldn't see Zoro from where he was at, so he just shrugged and continued walking.

Luffy and Zoro laughed, a long and hard laugh that left them gasping for breath.

Zoro sighed. "Let's go eat, buddy."

"Okay!" Luffy always perked up at the thought of food.

They both turned and walked back to the house, side by side.

* * *

**Review Please! **

**Thanks :)  
**


	4. Making Plans

**This is a really short chapter...basically a filler. Sorry about that. XD**

* * *

When Luffy and Zoro got back to the house, they found that they were the only ones there. Everyone else had gone back outside to play more volleyball, except Sanji. He was in the kitchen, cooking, looking anxious.

"What's the matter, SANji?" Zoro asked.

Sanji turned. "Don't call me SANji! I don't live in the sand!"

Zoro chuckled. "Your hair suggests otherwise."

Luffy burst out laughing. "I love how you make fun of blondes," he said.

"Yeah, so do I. Especially _this _one." He waved a hand towards Sanji as if he were nothing more than a fly.

Deciding to change the subject, Luffy asked, "Hey, Sanji! Are you done with my food yet…hey, you might want to turn around, Sanji."

Sanji turned around and screamed. "MY FOOD! LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO, YOU NON-GRATEFUL BEACH BUMS!"

Then he rushed to get a fire extinguisher while Zoro and Luffy cracked up and beat out the flames themselves.

When Sanji got back and saw that the flames were already extinguished, he scowled and aimed the fire extinguisher at Zoro.

Zoro chuckled and put up his hands. "I surrender," he declared.

But Sanji sprayed Zoro anyway, laughing like a maniac the whole time.

When he stopped, Zoro looked like a snowman, covered with white foam from the waist up.

"You could've at least waited until I had a _shirt _on," Zoro complained.

But Sanji wasn't even listening. "It's just a little bit of food that's burnt," he said, inspecting it, "I guess Luffy will have to eat a _normal_ serving."

Luffy looked unhappy, but said, "Hey, it was worth it. I got to see Sanji go crazy and Zoro look like a snowman, so I'm good."

"Hmmph," Sanji grunted. "Zoro, do you want to go call the others?" he smirked.

"Sure!" Zoro exclaimed. "I bet they'd all _love_ to see me looking like a snowman." Then he turned and walked to the door. "Coming, Luffy?"

"You bet!" Luffy followed Zoro outside to get the others.

x-x-x-x-x

"Hey guys!" Luffy called. "Time to eat!"

Usopp looked over and saw Zoro. "Zoro! What happened to you?"

"Oh, Sanji was having some fun with a fire extinguisher, that's all," he said.

By this time, everyone was looking at Zoro. Luffy felt he had to remind everyone what Zoro was _really _out here for, so he said, "Guyyys!" he whined. "I'm hungry! Hurry up!"

Everyone made their way over to Zoro. "You poor thing," Nami cooed.

Zoro glared at her. "Shut up. I'm not a baby!"

Nami smiled. "I know, I know! I just like to see your reaction to things." Then she turned and went inside, followed by everyone else except Luffy and Zoro.

"Hey, Luffy?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favor and go get me a towel, will you?"

"Sure!"

A minute later, Luffy was back with a towel.

"Thanks," Zoro said. Then he wiped off his chest and arms with the towel.

"Hey, I think I'll use the foam on my face as shaving cream!"

Luffy laughed, but Zoro was already gone. He probably went upstairs to shave and get his shirt. So he went back inside and sat down at the table to eat.

-The Middle of the Night-

Chopper had just woken up. He had another dream, but he wasn't afraid this time. He probably should be, considering the circumstances, but he wasn't.

He knew he had to tell someone, but he didn't want to wake Nami. So Chopper decided to wake Zoro.

He walked down the hall to Zoro's room and peeked in. Zoro was awake, fiddling with his laptop. That was a good sign.

"Psst! Zoro!" Chopper whispered.

Zoro whirled around in his chair, reaching for his swords, but relaxed when he saw that it was just Chopper.

"God, don't scare me like that!" he said.

Chopper walked into Zoro's room and sat on the bed. "Sorry, but I had another dream," he confessed.

Zoro had figured that. "What's up with Buggy?" he asked.

"Well…I'll just tell you the whole dream. First, I saw Buggy in a small boat, rowing across a river. Then I saw him, in his disguise, at a hotel, paying the bellhop. And lastly, I saw the yard around his house."

"What was his yard like?"

"It wasn't just any yard. I recognized the landscape. He's at Torpedo Beach."

Zoro's eyes widened. "That's…only one hundred miles away! How could he have gotten here so fast?"

"I don't know. But his disguise must be really good, if he was staying in a hotel."

"Yeah. So, when do you think we should leave?"

"Today...this morning...I don't know."

"How about we leave at sunrise?" Zoro said. "I'll book us some train tickets for this afternoon."

"Okay," Chopper said. "But we have to hurry. We don't know how much longer it will be until Buggy gets here."

"You're right." he turned around in his chair and went on the most popular sight for booking train tickets, TrainBooking.

A few mistakes and several curses later, he turned back around. "There," he gasped. "I booked us seven seats. I never figured ordering train tickets could be so hard."

Chopper laughed. "It's not," he said, "You're just making it hard."

"Yeah, maybe. Hey, we should probably go let everyone know we're leaving this morning."

"Yeah, probably. I'll do it. You need some sleep."

Chopper walked out, deciding to start with the person who hated being woken up the least, which would be Nami.

He went into Nami's room and shook her shoulder. "Nami," Chopper whispered.

"What?"

"We're leaving this morning at sunrise. I had another dream."

Nami sat up. "Are you scared?" she asked.

Chopper thought she meant about the dreams, so he said, "No."

Apparently Nami thought the same thing, because she corrected herself. "No, not about the dreams. I meant about what could happen to us if Buggy catches us."

Chopper hadn't thought about that much, but he realized that he _was _scared. "Yeah, a little, although I haven't thought about it much."

"Me neither, not until now."

"You should get some more sleep, Nami," Chopper advised.

"I will. Good night, Chopper."

"Good night." Then he turned and walked out of the room. Four more people to go.

-Sunrise-

Chopper awoke to Zoro knocking at his door. "Time to get up!" he called.

"I'm up." he answered.

Chopper had woken up each member of the crew and told them they were leaving. It definitely hadn't been easy. Luffy hates being woken up the most, and Zoro is the only one who can wake him up, so Zoro had to tell him.

He got up and stretched. Today was going to be a long day.

x-x-x-x-x

* * *

**Sooo...XD I was going to add more, but I was just too lazy. So the rest will be in Chapter 5... ch 5 is going to be the best... in my opinion. idk about yours, so plz review! ...it may be a while until the next chapter, just letting you know... :(  
**


	5. Zoro Gets Humiliated

Everyone was gathered at the top of the stairs, waiting for Zoro. Nobody wanted to carry their luggage down the stairs, so they were waiting for Zoro to come do it. Surprisingly, no one thought to ask Luffy, who could just pick it up and stretch his arms to the bottom of the stairs.

Zoro came out of his room with his laptop case strung over his shoulder. When he saw everyone gathered on the landing, looking at him, he scowled.

"I hope you don't think I'm carrying your luggage down the stairs," he said.

"Pleeeease?" Nami pleaded.

"No. Do it yourself." He walked over to his suitcase and picked it up. Strangely, it felt lighter. He pushed the feeling away and carried his luggage down the stairs.

"Yeah, guys, do it yourself," Sanji said, then followed Zoro down the stairs. "I'm going to pack our food bag, so one of you pretty ladies or gentlemen should carry mine down for me."

Luffy rolled his eyes. "I'll do it," he said. He picked up Sanji's suitcase and threw it down the stairs, where it landed with a loud _thump_. Even without seeing him, Luffy knew Zoro was laughing.

"Let's see how he likes that! That's what he gets for making someone else do his work for him!"

"That better not have been my suitcase, Luffy!" he heard Sanji yell.

"Don't worry, it was!" Luffy called down.

"WHAT! If anything is broken, you are paying for everything plus tax!"

"…how can _clothes_ be broken?" Luffy wondered aloud.

"I don't know," Nami said.

"Me neither," Usopp said.

"Oh well," Luffy said, "At least I won't have to pay for anything." Then he picked up his suitcase and threw it down the stairs, where it _thump_ed down next to Sanji's.

"Do any of you have anything breakable in your suitcases?" Luffy asked, looking at the rest of the crew.

"I do," Usopp said.

"Okay, then you can take your own suitcase down."

One by one, the crew's suitcases _thump_ed down the stairs, landing in a heap at the bottom.

Luffy grinned. "I've always wanted to do that," he said.

Then everyone went down the stairs in a group, except Usopp. He was still at the top of the stairs, struggling to move his suitcase even one inch.

"Do you need some help, Usopp?" Luffy asked, turning.

"N-no," Usopp replied. "I've got it."

"Okay," Luffy said, skeptically. "If you say so." Then he turned and walked the rest of the way down the stairs.

"Breakfast!" Sanji called. "Our last breakfast in this house." He had a tear in his eye.

Sanji had made a small but filling breakfast for everyone. There were egg rolls, doughnuts, and a sort of granola cereal with milk. All of the other ingredients had been packed in Sanji's food bag for when they got to their safe house.

Everyone made their way to the kitchen to eat. Usopp was still stuck at the top of the stairs, but not for long. He was so anxious about food and how hungry he was that he gave a huge tug that sent both him and his suitcase tumbling down the stairs.

Luffy, of course, was the first one to get his food. He had seven egg rolls, nine doughnuts, and three bowls of the granola cereal.

"Mmm," he said, with a mouthful of bread, "Delish."

Sanji gave Luffy a look of disgust. "You pig."

Luffy grinned. "What? I'm hungry!"

Sanji just shook his head and started eating.

-Ten Minutes Later-

"Time to go!" Zoro called.

Chopper stood. He had been sitting in the living room, watching his last TV show for the next couple of days.

"Luffy!" he called. "Since you'll be driving, I figured I should ask you. How long until we get to the train station?"

Luffy came out of the bathroom. "Hmm…let's see. If I drive forty miles an hour and get stopped at one red light for every mile… eighty minutes."

Chopper gasped. "That long to only go fifty miles? You must have done your math wrong."

"Yeah, I probably did. So let's shorten it and just say about an hour." He turned and walked away.

"Hey Zoro!" he called. "I need your help getting the trailer out of the garage!"

"I already did that, slowpoke." Zoro replied, coming back inside. "And you wouldn't have needed my help, either. That thing only weighed about 150 pounds."

"Oh. Well, I'm glad you did it already, because now we can start loading."

Robin appeared, Nami next to her. "Great!" she said. "Nami and I volunteer to load everyone's suitcases!"

"We do?" Nami asked. Catching a look from Robin, she said, "Oh yeah! We do!"

Zoro was suspicious, but he went along with it for the time being. "Alrighty. Have fun with that!" he said, walking towards the door. "Hey Luffy! Let's go sit in the nice air-conditioned car while the girls do all our work for us!"

"Really? We can? Cool! Okay, Zoro." Luffy followed Zoro out the door.

Everyone else followed them except Robin and Nami.

"Why are we doing this again?" Nami asked.

"Because," Robin answered, "We're going to put name tags on everyone's suitcase. I'll put my nametag on Zoro's suitcase, since it has all my clothes in it, and then I'll put his nametag on my suitcase."

"Oh, yeah!" Nami exclaimed.

"You start moving everyone else's stuff out to the car, while I put on the name tags."

"Okay," Nami replied.

Nami watched as Robin put a name tag on Chopper's suitcase. Then she picked up his suitcase and wheeled it out to the car. After a few grunts, she managed to heave it over the side of the trailer and get it positioned properly. Then she went back inside for the next one.

By the time she got back inside the house, Robin had finished putting all of the name tags on the suitcases.

"Robin!" Nami said. "Help me with these!"

"Ugh, fine." She picked up Zoro's suitcase and tugged it outside.

Nami figured Usopp's suitcase would be heavy, since he had had so much trouble getting it down the stairs. So she gave it a huge tug and fell over. It barely weighed anything!

Robin came back in, saw Nami, and laughed. "Do I dare ask?"

"Remember when Usopp had so much trouble getting his suitcase down the stairs? Well, I thought of that and figured his suitcase would be heavy. It's not."

Robin walked over and lifted the suitcase off Nami. "You're right," she said, amazed. "It's so light."

Nami picked herself up off the floor. "I know, right? I wonder what he has in there."

"If he has anything," Robin said. "Let's look!"

"But that would be invading his privacy…" Nami said, hesitating.

"So what? Usopp _has _no privacy." Robin bent down and unlocked the latch.

"True," Nami said, starting to open the lid.

"HEY! HURRY UP, WEAKLINGS!" They heard Zoro yell.

Startled, Nami dropped the lid, and the latch reengaged.

"I guess we'll have to wait," Robin said.

"Yeah."

x-x-x-x-x

Nami and Robin had finished loading everything into the trailer and were fighting for who got a seat in the car and who had to sit on the floor.

"Guys!" Luffy said. "I think Nami should sit up here in the front, in the middle seat, since she's our navigator."

Nami looked at Luffy gratefully. "Yeah, Robin!" Nami taunted. Then she got into the car and sat next to Luffy. Zoro got in after her and sat in the passenger seat.

"So, guys, are we ready to escape Buggy and live happily ever after?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah!" the crew chorused.

x-x-x-x-x

"Are we there yet?" Usopp whined.

"NO! For the tenth time, SHUT UP!" Zoro roared.

Usopp had asked that question ten times in the past half hour, and Zoro was starting to get extremely annoyed, as was everyone else in the car.

"We're almost there," Luffy relented. "Just twenty more minutes, if I don't get stopped by red lights or anything."

"Well, drive faster!" Usopp said. "I really gotta go to the bathroom!"

"Don't you dare wet yourself in my car," Luffy growled.

"I-I won't," Usopp whimpered.

Nami and Robin were chatting about some girly stuff, Sanji was trying to engage the girls in conversation, Chopper was reading a medical book, and Nami and Luffy were concentrating on driving, so Zoro had some quality time to himself. No one would dare ask him for directions. He would get lost finding the neighbor's house.

After a while, Zoro started to drift off. He was woken up a few minutes later by Luffy, who was shouting, "We're here!" right in his ear.

"God, Luffy!" Zoro said. "Why so loud?"

"'Cause!" he said. "We're gonna be late!"

"WHAT!" Zoro yelled. "We're late?" He jumped up and got out of the car, walking to the back to unload the luggage. A minute later, he realized that no one else was getting out.

"Hey guys!" he called. "I thought we were gonna be late?"

Luffy was laughing. "No, you idiot! I only said that to get you up!"

Zoro scowled. "I really am gonna kill you someday," he growled. But he had a smirk on his face.

Luffy grinned.

Now everyone else started getting out of the car. Chopper got out last, and he had an excited look on his face.

"Hey, Zoro!" he called. "Come look at what I found!"

Zoro stopped what he was doing and went over to Chopper. "What is it?" he asked, bending down.

"Look! In my medical book, it gives instructions on how to treat people who are having prophetic dreams!" Chopper excitedly pointed to a chart and a diagram.

"I wonder if it works?" Zoro wondered.

"I don't know, but I'm not going to try them until we're safe. Maybe not even then," he mused. "I kind of like having my ability."

"Well, that's up to you," Zoro said. Then he stood up and went back to unloading the luggage.

Once all of the luggage was unloaded, everyone grabbed their respective luggage and walked toward the train station.

The train station was a medium-sized stone building with a lot of windows. It had an awning over the entrance and a large parking lot in the back, where they were parked.

Luffy looked back toward his car. "I hope I can come back and get my car soon," he said. "I'm going to miss it."

"Pfft. You'll be fine," Zoro said.

"Still…" And with one last wistful glance at his car, he walked inside the building.

The inside was even nicer than the outside. There were a bunch of plush seats and benches stationed around for travelers to sit on while they waited for their train.

"Hey, Zoro," Nami asked. "What train are we on?"

Zoro pulled their tickets out of his pocket and looked. "We're on train A14," he replied.

As he passed out the tickets to everybody, Chopper was talking to Sanji.

"What are we going to eat on the train?" Chopper was asking.

"I think the train serves us food after a while," Sanji answered.

"Will it be as good as yours?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think they'll let you in the kitchen to cook for us?"

"I doubt they'll let me in straight-up, but I have my ways," Sanji replied, with a gleam in his eye.

"Yay!" Chopper exclaimed.

A few minutes later, a voice came over the loudspeaker. "Train A14 is now boarding, Train A14 is now boarding".

"Let's go!" Luffy said. He had his ticket in one hand, his carry-on slung over his shoulder, and he was pulling his suitcase with his other hand.

The others had their hands full as well. When they got to the luggage check counter, everyone groaned. They all thought they were going to have to open up all of their bags.

_That would actually be good, _Nami thought. _Then we'd be able to see what was in Usopp's suitcase._

But the baggage check was actually just a place where a man holding a wireless metal detector would scan the luggage.

_Oh well,_ Nami thought.

Next up was the ticket stand, where a woman would take your ticket and hold it under this special light to make sure it was authentic, then punch a hole in it and mark it with this special marker. Then you were sent through to the boarding area.

When everyone's luggage was checked and their tickets punched, they all gathered in the boarding area with a group of other people who were on the same train as them.

The train stations in the Beach area were different from most of the other train stations in the world. The Beach stations, which included the one Luffy and his crew were, the one where they were going, and six others, made you check in your luggage, which was put in a separate train car. The only thing you were allowed in your car was your carry-on. It was sort of like an airport.

After dropping off their luggage, they boarded the train.

"This is so cool!" Robin squealed.

"I know!" Nami exclaimed.

Their train car was furnished with velvet seats and foot rests. It even had a bathroom and mini library.

Upon seeing the bathroom, Usopp rushed there.

Watching him, Chopper laughed. "He's so stupid."

Nami and Robin, along with Sanji, were still remarking about how plush their car was.

"It's like we're riding first class!" Nami said.

"We are," Zoro answered.

"We are?" Sanji asked. "Wow, cool! How did we pay for it? I mean, I know we have a lot of money, but still."

Zoro looked around before answering. "Don't tell anyone, but we paid for it using Usopp's bank account." He smirked. "We also got a 'family discount' for having more than four people in our party."

Robin raised her eyebrows. "You shouldn't have done that," she admonished.

"I honestly didn't know what I did until after I did it," Zoro admitted. "Buying things online has never been my strong point."

"That _is _true," Nami relented.

"_I'm _okay with it," Sanji said.

"You're okay with everything and every_one_, except Zoro," Robin said.

"Yeah, I know," Sanji said.

Suddenly, a voice came over the loudspeaker. "Everyone take your seats please, we will be departing in five minutes. Everyone take your seats please, we will be departing in five minutes."

"Why do they always feel the need to say everything twice?" Luffy asked.

"That's a good question," Zoro answered. "It gets really annoying."

"I know," Nami said. "It annoys me too."

At that moment, Usopp came out of the bathroom. "What's annoying?" he asked.

"The lady over the loudspeaker," Chopper answered. "She always repeats everything twice."

"Well, that could be a good thing!" Usopp said. "Maybe if we didn't hear it the first time, we would the second time."  
"Eh, true." Luffy said. "But it's still annoying."

"No it's not!" Usopp wailed.

"I bet you're just in love with the lady!" Zoro teased.

"What!" Usopp was appalled. "No I'm not!"

"It was worth a try," Zoro said.

After that, everyone went to their seats.

As they took their seats, the loudspeaker blared again. "Attention, we are departing in one minute. Attention, we are departing in one minute."

Luckily, Zoro was smart enough to try to get seven seats near each other so the crew could talk. The seating arrangements were simple. Luffy, Zoro, Robin, and Usopp sat on one side of the car, and Nami, Sanji, and Chopper sat on the other side.

"These seats are really comfy," Chopper said.

"Well that's because you're so small that you sink right into them," Sanji asked. "The rest of us are just sitting on top of them!"

"So what's Chopper doing?" Zoro asked. "Sitting underneath it?" He chuckled.

"Well, no, but…"

"Just be quiet!" Robin said.

A minute later, the train started to move.

"Whoa," Usopp said, "I think I feel seasick."

"This isn't a boat, genius!" Nami said. "And plus, we used to _live _on a boat. And you were never seasick _then."_

"Hey guys!" Luffy exclaimed suddenly. "Who wants to play poker?"

"Aw, Luffy, we all know you're going to win!" Zoro said.

"I beg to differ," Nami said. "I accept your challenge."

-x-x-x-x-

Ten minutes later, at the end of three different hands, Nami collected her large pile of money.

"I told you I was good!" she teased Luffy.

"I didn't know you'd be _that _good!" he said.

"Then why'd you bet all of your money so quickly? Normally when you don't know your opponent, you bet a little money at first until you see whether you can beat them or not."

"But I thought I could _win!" _Luffy whined.

"You must not know me, then," Nami said. "I never give up until I win."

Luffy just frowned.

"Oh, cheer up!" Nami said. "It's just a game, and I don't like seeing one of my crew members upset."

"Especially him," Zoro said, grinning.

"Shut up! He's the captain! Of course I'm worried about him the most!" But even with those defiant words, Nami was blushing.

Luffy, however, took no notice. He was busy staring out the window.

"Oh, why do I even bother?" Nami asked, throwing her hands up.

"Who knows?" Zoro said, chuckling.

"You just shut it!" Nami said. Then she turned and looked out the window.

-x-x-x-x-

A half an hour later, Nami was startled awake by a voice on the loudspeaker. "Attention, we will be arriving at Grape Beach station in ten minutes. We will be arriving at Grape Beach station in ten minutes."

She sat up and looked around. Robin and Chopper were still asleep, Sanji was reading a girly magazine, Zoro was polishing his swords (which had barely passed the baggage check), and Luffy was…staring at her.

"What?" she asked him.

He blinked. "Oh, nothing. You look really peaceful when you sleep."

"O-oh. Thanks, I guess." She said, trying to hide her blush.

Luffy grinned. "You're welcome," he said.

Deciding to change the subject, she said, "How did Zoro get his swords past clearance?"

"I can hear you, you know," Zoro said. "Why don't you ask me?"

"Yeah," Luffy said, "Ask him."

"Okay," Nami said, "How _did _you get your swords past clearance?"

"Well, I sort of had to use a little bit of force," Zoro answered. "I threatened to shut down their whole corporation if I wasn't allowed to have my most precious possessions with me on the train. Honestly, I'm surprised it worked."

Nami furrowed her eyebrows. "Me too," she said.

"What's the matter?" Luffy asked.

"I don't know, but something just doesn't seem right."

"Like what?" Zoro asked.

"Well…the way they let you take _swords _onto a train with a lot of people, and how easy it was to get our luggage checked."

"Have you never ridden on a train before?" Luffy asked. "That's how it is at all train stations."

"But who in their right mind would let a _santoryu swordsman _with three sharp swords enter an unguarded public facility?"

"What?" Zoro and Luffy chorused.

Nami sighed. "I mean, there are a whole lot of people you could kill out there in the other cars," she explained. "And they didn't even think it necessary to guard you."

"Ooooohhh," Luffy and Zoro said. "That makes more sense."

"I don't know why they didn't guard me," Zoro said.

"I bet it was because you have a reputation for not killing or harming unless it's absolutely necessary," Luffy said.

"Maybe," Zoro said. "But honestly, I'm not worried about it. If they let me in and I killed someone, then it would be their responsibility. They must have thought I wasn't a threat."

Just at that moment, the loudspeaker crackled, and the train started to slow. "We must be here!" Robin said, stretching.

"Attention passengers! The train has arrived at Grape Beach station. Please exit the train in an orderly fashion and proceed to the baggage claim."

"Hey!" Luffy exclaimed. "She didn't repeat everything!"

"Yeah, she didn't!" Sanji said.

"Maybe she was busy, with the train stopping and everything," Zoro said.

"Maybe," Nami said.

"What are we wasting time for? Let's go!" Chopper exclaimed.

Everyone stood, and two by two they exited their train car.

"Ahh!" Nami sighed. "It feels good to be outside again."

"I know!" Luffy answered. "I hate being inside for long periods of time."

"Me too," Nami replied.

By that time, the crew had reached the baggage claim. People were milling about, waiting for their names to be called. The crew joined the group of people.

The person on the loudspeaker rattled off a list of five names every thirty seconds. "Paul! Steve! Nami! Andrew! Clyde!"

"I guess I better go get my luggage," Nami said, walking up to the stand.

A few seconds later, she came back, wheeling her luggage.

"Chopper! Melanie! Josh! Trisha! Usopp!"

"Come on, Usopp. Let's go get our luggage," Chopper said.

"Luffy! Carla! John! Sanji! Cadel!"

Luffy and Sanji left to get their stuff as Usopp and Chopper returned.

"Robin! Robert! Mary! Peter! Miles!"

Robin left to get her stuff.

"Why hasn't my name been called yet?" Zoro asked, scowling.

"How would I know?" Nami said. "Maybe yours was at the bottom or something."

"George! Felix! Michael! Stacy! And…uh…Zoro!"

"Oh great," Zoro said. "I wonder what's up."

Zoro walked towards the baggage claim. People were staring at him, rather rudely, he thought, but he wasn't sure why. He pushed it off and walked up to the baggage claim.

"Your name, sir?" The man behind the counter asked.

"Zoro."

The man smirked, before pushing a bright pink suitcase with flowers towards him.

For a second, Zoro just stared. It was clearly Robin's suitcase, but it had _his _name embroidered on the tag. He was furious.

He grabbed her luggage angrily, set it down on the floor, opened the handle, and stalked away with a perturbed look on his face.

"Man, is she gonna _pay!_" he growled.

* * *

**So? How was it?**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been busy.  
**


	6. Renting a Car

Zoro stormed over to Robin. "What was that about?" he growled.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

But Zoro had figured it all out. The day he had been sitting in the kitchen with Chopper and heard the banging noise was the day his luggage had been switched. The banging had been a signal for Chopper that he didn't need to distract him anymore.

The name tags were part of the plan as well. She must've switched the name tags when she volunteered to load the luggage in the trailer. Robin had planned that everyone would laugh and stare at him when he went to get his luggage, since it would stand out so much.

"I bet it's actually _your_ stuff in this suitcase," Zoro said, seething. "You just changed the name tags." He bent down and unlatched the suitcase.

Robin raised her eyebrows.

As Zoro opened his suitcase, he just stared. Everything in there was _his_ stuff. None of it was Robin's. Had he really packed all of his stuff in the wrong suitcase? Was he really that oblivious? Or had Robin switched it?

He looked up at his crew and saw that Robin and Nami were giggling. Well, now he knew who her accomplice was.

He had to admit, it was a good joke.

"Both of you are gonna _get it_," Zoro said. Then he bent down and re-latched Robin's suitcase.

Luffy, Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper had just been standing there, watching the whole thing play out. Luffy was laughing, and Chopper was smiling. Usopp and Sanji were just standing there like the dumb idiots they were. They probably didn't even know what had just happened.

Zoro stood. "Let's go."

As they walked, Chopper started a conversation.

"How about the train's food?" he asked.

"It was actually pretty good, by my standards," Sanji answered.

"I didn't think it was a good as Sanji's," Luffy said. "And I never could get the waiters to understand that I needed ten times as much food. So I only had two servings." He rubbed his stomach regretfully.

"I liked it," Nami said. "My favorite thing was the roast beef in gravy."

"I really liked the ham," Chopper said.

"Me, too!" Usopp exclaimed. "But I also liked the iced tea. Don't _you_ think so, Zoro?"

Zoro grunted. "Yeah, the tea was good."

"What else was good, Zoro?" Luffy asked. "There has to be something you liked." He moved to walk next to him.

"Yeah, there were some things that I liked, but I'm kind of sulking right now, Luffy," he replied, quietly.

"Why?" Luffy asked. "It was a pretty funny joke. It's something I would have done. And if I would have done it, you wouldn't be as mad as you are now. So just pretend that I did it."

Zoro blinked in surprise. "You're right," he said, "If you _had _done it, I wouldn't be mad at all."

Luffy nodded encouragingly. "So just pretend that I did it."

Zoro closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. "Okay," he said.

_Luffy was the one who switched my luggage, _Zoro thought. _ Luffy was the one who switched my luggage. Robin and Nami had nothing to do with it._ _It was all Luffy's fault._

He opened his eyes. "I think it worked," he said. "I'm not as mad anymore."

"Do you think you could contribute to a conversation now?" Luffy asked.

He thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think I can."

"Then prove it." Luffy walked back to the rest of the crew.

Zoro took a deep breath. "Hey guys!" he called. "I really liked the beef stew."

-x-x-x-x-x-

A few minutes and a lot of conversations later, the crew reached a major intersection.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Chopper asked.

"I guess we can head for the car rental place," Zoro said.

"Works for me!" Chopper said.

When the light changed, they headed across the street. A few blocks away, Luffy could see the shimmering roofs of cars.

"It's only a few blocks away!" he called.

"Good," Nami said, "I'm tired of walking."

"Me too," Usopp said.

Ten minutes later, they reached the car lot. All of the cars were shiny and clean with no rust or dents or anything.

"I wonder how much it costs to rent a car?" Robin asked.

"I don't know, but I hope it's not too much. We don't have any extra money to waste on the luxuries, so pick one with just the necessities," Zoro said.

"Okay," Nami said, frowning.

They all started roaming the lot, looking for a car to suit their purposes.

"How about this one?" Chopper asked. He pointed to a shiny blue car with new wheels and rubber seats.

"No way!" Zoro said. "Maybe we should look in the 'used' section."

"HEY ZORO!" Luffy yelled. "COME LOOK AT THIS!"

Zoro sighed and walked over to him. "What?"

"Look at this thing!" he pointed to a used van with seven seats and a large trunk. The paint was scratched up, and the back seat had a hole torn in it.

Zoro smirked. "If we drive that thing around, people are going to think that you kidnapped us all!"

"Yeah, it does look like a creeper van, I know, but it's really cheap! We could buy it!"

"Dude, we're _not _buying that. Once we get to the house, you're going back to the train station and driving your car up here. For now, I guess we could rent it…" he shook his head in disgust. "But they better clean it first."

"Okay!" Luffy said. "Works for me!"

"Why are you so excited?" Zoro asked. "You're the one driving!"

"Yeah, I know," Luffy said, "But I get to control the surround-sound radio!"

Zoro's jaw dropped. "This piece of junk has a surround-sound radio?"

"Yup!" he grinned. "And it's all mine!"

"Whatever. Now come with me to pay."

"Okay!" he followed Zoro inside to the service station.

"How may I help you?" the clerk asked.

"We'd like to rent that van over there," Zoro said, pointing.

The clerk's eyes widened. "Just a second," he said. Then he disappeared into the back room.

"I wonder what the deal is," Zoro said.

"I don't know, but I hope we can buy it."

"We're renting it, not buying it."

"Whatever."

The clerk came back from the back room with an important-looking guy in tow.

"I'll take you back here for a minute," the important-looking guy said, motioning into the back room.

"Okay," Zoro said.

He and Luffy followed him into the back.

The guy closed the door behind them. "I'm the owner of this car lot. My name is Antonio."

"Nice to meet you!" Luffy said.

Zoro nodded. "Why did you call us back here?"

"That van that you want to buy…"

"Rent!" Zoro interrupted.

"Rent, yes. Well, no one has ever bought that thing before. It used to belong to a criminal."

"Cool!" Luffy said, before he was elbowed by Zoro.

"Anyway," Antonio continued, "It has gotten really beat up over the years, and no one has ever even gotten close to it except you."

"We made an agreement before coming in here," Zoro said. "We said that we would only rent it if someone washed it for us."

"I don't think we'll be able to do that," Antonio said. "We're not equipped for it."

"Oh," Zoro said. "Okay, that's fine."

"I'm just glad that we can get rid of it for a while. How long will you be renting it for?"

"Probably only a week or two," Zoro said, glancing at Luffy, who nodded.

"Yeah."

Antonio frowned. "Well, it's better than nothing," he said, pulling some paperwork out of his desk drawer.

"Just fill out what car you're renting, how long you'll have it, and then sign at the bottom."

"Okay," Zoro said, taking the paper and a pen from him.

He checked off all the right boxes and wrote in a few things, then signed the paper at the bottom. He went to hand the paper back to Antonio, but then thought better of it.

"You might as well sign too, Luffy, since you'll be driving."

"Yeah," he said, signing the paper.

Then Zoro handed the form back to Antonio, who looked it over.

"Good," he said, giving a nod of approval. "I'll be right back."

He walked out back into the main room.

Zoro sighed. "Glad that's over with. That guy seems really happy to get that van out of his lot."

"Yeah," Luffy said.

Antonio walked back into his office with a key in his hand. "Here you go!" he said cheerfully. "You're all set!"

"Thanks," Zoro said, shaking his hand. "We'll all be on our way then." He stood.

"Come on, Luffy," he said, heading for the door. "Let's go get the others and get out of here."

"Okay!" Luffy said.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"HEY GUYS!" Luffy yelled, as loud as he could, "WE GOT A VAN! LET'S GO!"

One by one, his crew started coming towards him. Nami got to him first.

"Hey Luffy!" she said, "Where's this van that you got?"

"Honestly, it's really suckish," he said, putting an arm behind his head. "But it has a surround-sound Sirius satellite radio."

Nami smiled. "That's why you wanted it, huh?"

"Yeah," he grinned.

By that time, everyone had showed up and was waiting to leave.

"Come on, I'll show you," he said. He started walking towards the van.

Everyone followed.

When he was around the corner from the van, he went behind Nami and covered her eyes.

"Walk," he commanded.

Nami giggled. "Okay," she said, taking a tentative step forward.

"Don't worry," Luffy said, "I won't let you fall."

Nami smiled. "I know."

After a minute Luffy suddenly yelled, "Stop!"

Nami stopped and tripped.

Luffy caught her with one hand while still covering her eyes with the other.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said.

With a flourish, he took his hand away from her eyes.

She took one look at the van and cracked up.

Luffy frowned, a hurt look on his face.

Seeing this, Nami stopped laughing. "I'm sorry," she said, "But it reminded me so much of you!"

He smiled. "How?"

"Well, you really didn't care what it looked like or who had it before you. You just wanted the radio!"

"Yeah," he grinned. "But there's also a middle seat in the front."

"For me?"

"If you want."

"Of course I want it! I love middle seats. They're really comfy."

"Okay!" Luffy grinned. Then he turned to the rest of his crew, who were just turning the corner.

"What do you think, guys?" he asked.

None of them were impressed.

"Wow." Sanji said, sarcastically.

Chopper just shook his head and didn't say anything.

Robin looked at it in disgust. "That's gross," she said.

"Let's have a look inside," Usopp said.

"Okay," Luffy said. He took the key from Zoro and unlocked the door.

Everyone gasped.

"It's not as bad as I thought," Zoro said.

Inside was a four seated back seat, with only a small tear at the edge. There was also a pull-down poker table in the middle, behind the backseat.

In the front seat were three seats, all heated. Then there was the Sirius radio. And the best thing of all, a GPS.

"Guess you don't need me in the front after all," she said.

"No, you can sit in the front," Luffy said.

Nami smiled. "Thanks."

"What's up with you two?" Usopp asked. "You've been acting really strange lately."

"I think they like each other," Zoro said, smirking.

Nami blushed. "No we don't!" she said.

"Are you sure?" Zoro said, teasingly.

Luffy just stared. "Okay," he said. Then he walked around the van to the driver's seat and opened the door.

"Load 'er up!" he said, getting in.

Everyone took turns putting their luggage in the trunk. The trunk was really big, but not big enough. Usopp's suitcase had to be tied onto the roof.

"Why mine?" he whined.

"Because. Yours is the lightest." Zoro said.

Usopp grunted. "No, it's not," he said. But he went along with it anyway, getting into the backseat.

Everyone climbed into the van. Nami got into the front, sitting in the middle seat next to Luffy. Zoro got in after her and closed the door.

In the backseat, Usopp was first, then Chopper, Robin, and Sanji.

"Did anyone remember to bring cards?" Sanji asked.

"I have some," Nami said, "But I'll only let you use them if I play too."

Luffy smirked.

"Okay!" Usopp said. "But how are you going to reach?"

"Like this." She had figured out that her seat rotated around to face the back.

"Whoa!" Chopper said. "That's really cool!"

"Yeah, I know," she said. "Now, deal the cards!"

"Okay," Usopp said. He took the cards from Nami, shuffled them, and dealt everyone five cards.

After everyone looked at their cards, Sanji took two from his hand and laid them down in the middle of the table. "Hit me," he said.

Zoro reached around and slapped Sanji across the face.

"OW! WHY'D YOU HIT ME?" Sanji yelled.

"You _said _'hit me'!" Zoro said. "So I did."

"I DIDN'T MEAN _LITERALLY _HIT ME! YOU SAY THAT IN POKER, IDIOT!"

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to hit you." He said, smirking.

"So, I guess we can go now?" Luffy said, starting the engine.

"Yeah," Robin said, staring at her cards.

Luffy bent forward, adjusting some knobs on the dashboard. "Let's hear some music!"

The radio blared. Everyone jumped and Luffy giggled. "What station?"

"96.1!" Everyone chorused.

He changed the station and turned the volume up even further. "Good?" he mouthed.

Usopp gave him a thumbs up.

Luffy grinned, released the parking brake, and stepped on the gas.

He turned out of the lot and onto the highway, speakers booming, and everyone laughing and having a great time.

Luffy smiled. He wished things could always be this way.

* * *

**Sorry I haven't updated in so long. It might be like this for a while... :(**


	7. The New House

"Aw, come on!" Sanji had to yell to be heard over the blaring radio. "That's the tenth time I've lost!"

"I'm just really good," Nami said, boasting.

"One more round!" Usopp said.

"No, I think I'm done for now," Nami said, yawning. "I'm kinda tired."

"Oh, fine." Usopp pouted.

"Can we play again later?" Chopper asked.

"I guess…if you want to lose again!" Nami said. Then she rotated her seat to face the front, where she put her feet up on the seat and laid her head back.

The motley crew behind her was jabbering about something or other, Luffy was humming along to the radio, and Zoro was staring out the window. After a while, she started to get drowsy, and her eyes closed. A minute later, she was asleep.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Nami was awakened by a voice talking.

"Aw, how cute! Somebody take a picture!" Sanji was saying.

Nami opened her eyes to see what he was talking about. She was still sitting with her feet up on the seat, but her head wasn't on the back of the seat anymore. It had shifted sideways, probably when the van had turned or something, and now her head was resting against Luffy's shoulder.

Noticing this, she jerked her head away and sat up. Looking at Luffy, she noticed a small frown cross his features, then fade away.

Zoro was chuckling.

"What?" Nami said.

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking how cute you two looked together."

Nami raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "Boys."

"Are we there yet?" she asked.

"Almost," Luffy said. "You were only asleep for about a half hour, so we still have about….oh, 25 miles to go. We'll be there in about thirty minutes."

"Oh. Um, thanks," Nami said, somewhat awkwardly.

Luffy smiled. "You're welcome."

Deciding she needed to get away from Luffy for a while, she rotated her chair around to face the back. But, seeing their faces, she wished she hadn't.

Sanji was staring at her with a mix of wonder and disgust.

"What?" she asked him.

"How do you do it?" he asked. "You manage to attract all the boys, and yet you pick the most disgusting and stupid one to be your boyfriend."

"Shut up!" Nami yelled, just as Luffy was heard laughing.

Tearing her gaze away from Sanji, she noticed that Chopper was asleep, Robin was reading a magazine, and Usopp was just…staring at her.

"What do you want?" she asked him.

He shook his head suddenly, as if he had been in a daze. "Uh…can we play more cards?"

"No."

"Oh. Uh, okay." He said, turning to look out the window.

Frustrated, Nami turned her seat back around and tried to talk to Zoro.

"Hey, Zoro," she said.

Zoro grunted. He was getting seriously annoyed with how long this trip was taking. Plus, Nami was bothering him way too much.

"Umm…are you still mad at me?"

"Of course!" he said, angrily. "But I'm not _deathly mad _anymore. Although I'm still planning on how to get revenge."

Nami just stared. "Uh, that's…good, I guess." So much for having a decent conversation with Zoro.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"WE'RE HERE!" Luffy shouted.

"Dude! Chill down!" Zoro said, rubbing his left ear. "I think you just burst my eardrum."

Luffy grinned. "Oops," he said.

"Anyway," Zoro said, "Where's the house? All I see is a big field with nothing in it."

"That's the yard!" Luffy said excitedly. "The house is another half-mile down the driveway."

Robin gaped. "That's the _yard_? It looks like a farm! Wait…we're not living on a farm, are we? I hate farms. They make me sneeze."

"No, we're not living on a farm," Luffy answered.

"So what are we living in?" she asked.

"A house."

"What kind of house?"

But Luffy was not going to tell. He wanted it to be a surprise. He wanted everyone to know that he could actually do something right.

He turned the volume down on the radio. "Hey, Zoro," he said, "Did you bring the volleyball net or anything?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course not! Do you see a big net in the trunk or on the roof? And there's no _way _it would fit in my suitcase."

Luffy frowned. "Hopefully there's one in the garage or the pool shed," he murmured.

"We have a _pool_?" Nami exclaimed, momentarily forgetting the awkward moment earlier.

Luffy grinned. "Yup."

"Is there a diving board? Because I'm really good at diving."

"Yup!" Luffy said.

Nami smiled. A real smile, not just one of the little ones she so often showed. "As soon as I unpack, I'm going swimming," she announced. Then, as a second thought, she added, "If there's any water in the pool."

"Yeah, there's water," Luffy answered. "I called ahead three days ago and told the housekeeper to make sure everything was ready for us."

"We have a housekeeper?" Robin asked.

"No, not like that. The housekeeper was just assigned to the house to keep it nice until someone moved in."

"Oh." Robin was disappointed.

A minute later, the house came into view. There were a chorus of gasps.

"It's so pretty!" Nami said, amazed.

Luffy just smiled.

"I love it!" Usopp said, even though he couldn't see it from where he was sitting.

"Usopp, you can't even see it," Chopper said. He had just woken up and was really cranky.

"So? Everyone else thinks it's pretty!"

Chopper just sighed and shook his head.

A few seconds later, they pulled up in front of the house. It was a three story house that was painted a light blue. The shutters were a darker blue, matching the garage and the pool shed, which were also dark blue. The chimney was brick, as was the porch. The driveway was paved with asphalt and had a basketball court painted on, complete with two basketball hoops.

Then there was the pool. The cover was off, and the clear blue water reflected onto the deck. At one end, it was a depth of four feet. Then there was a gentle slope down to the other end, which totaled ten feet.

Nami gasped. "The pool is so cool!"

Even Zoro was impressed. He didn't think his captain was capable of getting something so amazing. And when he noticed the full basketball court, he grinned. He was going to have fun with that.

The second the car stopped, all the doors were flung open. Nami practically crawled over top of Zoro to get out.

"Calm down!" Zoro said.

"Sorry, but I'm excited!" Nami said, already going to the back to get her luggage. She pulled open the trunk and dragged her suitcase out. Then she opened the handle and ran for the door.

"You do realize that it's locked, right?" Luffy called.

Nami stopped and turned back to Luffy to see him holding up a shining key. She frowned and walked more slowly.

By this time everyone had gotten out of the van and was getting their luggage. Usopp was complaining about his luggage being on the roof and him not being able to reach it.

"Please, Zoro!" he was saying. "I can't reach it!"

"Why are you asking me? I'm not going to get it for you. Why don't you ask Luffy? He's the one who put it there."

"Oh, yeah, hey Luffy!" he called.

"Yeah?"

"Can you get my luggage off the roof?"

"It already is, if you haven't noticed."

Usopp looked around, confused. Then he saw his luggage sitting on the ground next to the van. Apparently Luffy had heard Usopp complain to Zoro and had gotten it down himself. Usopp went over to it and rolled it up to the door.

Meanwhile, Chopper was anxious. Not because it was a new house and town and everything, either. While he had been asleep in the van on the way here, he had had another dream, and it was making him really worried.

It was Sanji who noticed. "Hey, Chopper!" he called from the back of the van. "What's bringing you down?"

"Oh, nothing," he said. "Just tired, is all."

Zoro knew that wasn't true, but he didn't say anything. He knew that Chopper had had another dream.

When Luffy had gotten his luggage, he walked up to the front door of the house. He put the key in the lock, twisted it, and pushed on the door. "Welcome to our new home!" he said, as the door swung open.

* * *

**This chapter was really short. Sorry about that. It's getting harder for me to write this... unfortunately. **


	8. Exploring, Part One

"Wow!" Nami said, surveying the living room. "This place is so cool!"

Nami had been the first one to enter the house, naturally. She had burst through the door, not even letting it open all the way before she was inside. She set her suitcase down and began walking around.

The rest of the crew filtered in, looking around.

Zoro grunted.

As soon as Usopp got inside, he began running around, looking for the bathroom. When he found it, he ran in and slammed the door.

Robin laughed. "Oh, Usopp," she said.

Sanji had made his way to the kitchen to see if he liked it. He stood in the doorway for a minute, his jaw touching the floor.

"Nice, huh, Sanji?" Luffy asked, coming up behind him. "I made sure the kitchen was nice for you."

Sanji managed to pick his bottom jaw off of the floor and reattach it to his top jaw. Then he said, "It's amazing!"

Luffy grinned and left to check out the rest of the house, making sure that it was the way the housekeeper had said it would be. He nodded satisfactorily. It was.

Suddenly, Luffy heard a scream coming from the bathroom.

Zoro heard it too and walked towards it. When he got in front of the door, it burst open and smacked him on the head.

"Ow, Usopp! Watch where you're going, geez!" He yelled, rubbing his head.

"Sorry," Usopp said. "But THERE'S A SPIDER IN THE SHOWER!"

Luffy laughed as he came up the stairs, followed by Sanji, who had finally gotten over his beautiful kitchen and was checking out the rest of the house.

"Lemme see!" Luffy said, dashing into the bathroom. A second later, he dashed out, holding is nose. "Geez, Usopp! What'd you do in there?"

Zoro chuckled.

Usopp blushed, embarrassed. "There wasn't any air freshener," he said.

Sanji, trying to be manlier than Zoro for once, walked into the bathroom holding his nose and looked in the shower. Unfortunately, the smell went through his pinched nose and he ran out, coughing, making him a laughingstock by Zoro.

"I bet it's not _that _bad," Zoro said. "Sanji's just being a baby." He walked into the bathroom, not even plugging his nose.

Sanji said nothing. He waited for Zoro to get what was coming to him.

After a minute, and still having heard nothing from Zoro, Luffy got worried and stretched his eyeballs into the room to see if he was okay.

Luffy withdrew his eyeballs and laughed. Then he stretched his arms in and grabbed Zoro, dragging him outside.

Zoro had passed out in the middle of the floor.

Sanji laughed. How was _that _for proving he was manlier than Zoro? He didn't even pass out, but Zoro did!

Usopp chuckled, still embarrassed. "Hmm, maybe you should call me Stinky!" he joked.

But his joke fell on deaf ears. Zoro had woken up and heard Sanji laughing, and now the two of them were engaged in combat.

He sighed and walked away, towards the stairs. He might as well check out the rest of the house.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Nami sighed. So much for swimming as soon as she got in.

She was checking out the highest floor, where there were three bedrooms. All of the bedrooms on that floor had nice balconies, which made Nami happy. She liked to be able to see the stars at night.

Downstairs, Robin was investigating the television. There was a cupboard underneath it, on the stand, and she was trying to open it. It had to be locked, or something, because she couldn't get it open.

"Hey Zoro!" she called. She hoped he wasn't still mad at her. "Can you help me for a sec?"

Zoro came downstairs and walked around the corner, having finished his duel with Sanji, him winning as usual. "What?" he asked, annoyed.

"I can't get this door open." She pointed to the cupboard door. "I want to know what's inside."

Zoro sighed. "Move," he said, as if Robin was wasting his time and he had something important to do.

He bent down, braced his feet, and gave a sharp tug. Surprisingly, the door didn't even budge. On the second try, though, the door opened.

Zoro stood. "There," he said. "You're welcome."

He started to leave, but then his curiosity got the better of him. "Wait, what's in there?"

Robin opened the door all the way. Inside was a collection of video game consoles and accessories. The other door to the cupboard, when opened, held a variety of the video games themselves.

Zoro whistled. "Wow. I bet Usopp and Chopper will have fun with those," he said. "They'll probably be here all night, with the size of that TV."

Robin smirked. "Yeah, if I don't beat them to it."

"No way!" Zoro said, surprised. "I didn't know you played video games!"

"A little," she said, standing.

Zoro tilted his head to one side, sizing her up. "I'll have to verse you someday."

Robin nodded. "Will do."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Luffy walked into the kitchen. "Saaanjiiii! I'm hungry!"

"Well, you'll just have to wait. I haven't unpacked the ingredients yet." Sanji said, following Luffy in. He was still annoyed at having been beaten by Zoro upstairs.

Luffy scowled. Then his face lit up. He was going to do something intelligent. "Hey everyone!" Luffy yelled. "Come down into the kitchen! We're going to have a meeting!"

Everyone filtered into the kitchen. Chopper came in last.

Luffy grabbed a chair and stood on it. "This meeting is about the rooming situations. There are seven bedrooms in this house. There are also seven of us. Therefore, each of us gets a room to him or herself, just like at the beach house. Now the only question is who gets what room."

Nami perked up. "I want a room on the top floor with a balcony," she said. "Those rooms also have a bathroom in them."

Luffy grinned. "I want one of those rooms too!"

Zoro smirked. Of course Luffy would want one. And, now that he thought about it, so did he. "I also want one."

"Well, that takes care of the top floor!" Luffy said, excitedly. "Now the middle floor. Usopp, Chopper, Robin, and Sanji get that floor. As for which rooms they get, I am leaving it up to them." He hopped off the chair. "Now, Nami and Zoro. Let's go see which rooms we want."

Nami smiled. "Okay, captain."

Zoro just grunted and followed them up the stairs.

Nami spoke. "I already picked which room I want," she said.

They reached the top floor.

"Which one?" Luffy asked.

"The one on the left side of the hallway," Nami pointed. "It's the only one on that side. There's also an entertainment room up here. Zoro could probably use that as a training room."

"Nah, that's what the garage and outdoor stuff is for," Zoro said. "Besides, training in the house just seems weird."

"I'll use it!" Luffy spoke up.

"For what? Your air?" Zoro asked.

Luffy looked at him. "I need a room to store my air?" He gasped. "I need air to put in my Air Room! Or I'll die of no oxygen!"

Zoro chuckled. "No, Luffy, I was being sarcastic. You don't need a room to put your air in. You've never needed one before, have you?"

"Well, no, but—"

Nami punched both of them upside the head. "You idiots!"

"Ow…" Luffy said, rubbing his head.

"I don't know what's gotten into you lately, Luffy. You used to be logical and used common sense, at least sometimes, but now you're just acting like a little kid."

"I'm just excited, that's all." Luffy said.

Zoro tilted his head, sizing Luffy up. Then he nodded. "He's telling the truth," he said.

"How do _you _know?" Nami said.

"I know him better than anyone on the crew," Zoro explained.

Nami stared at him. "Okay, if you say so." Then she walked into her new room.

"Which room is yours, Zoro?" Luffy asked.

"I don't know," he answered. "I haven't even looked at either one of them yet."

"I have," Luffy said. "But I'll let you have the one you want, since I'm supposed to be logical."

"O-kay." Nami was right. Luffy _was_ acting weird.

Zoro walked into the room closest to the stairs and looked around. The bed was positioned next to the window, which he didn't like. If he did pick this room, he would have to move the bed.

The walls were bare but painted a nice shade of royal blue. There was a computer desk in the corner across from the bed, but no computer. The floor was made of oak and shiny, and there was a midnight blue rug in the center of the room.

After seeing the room, Zoro thought it seemed more "Luffy" than "Zoro". So he walked over to the other room down the hall.

As soon as he stepped in, he knew that this was the room he wanted. The walls were a shade of forest green, and the floor was some sort of dark wood. He didn't know what kind, though.

The bed was positioned across from the window in the middle of the room beside the door on the right, the way he liked it, and the computer desk was in the left corner opposite the bed. There was a bookshelf opposite that, on the right side of the room, and a deep brown rug took up a good portion of the middle of the room. There was even a guitar stand, modified to fit his swords, sitting beside the bed on the left side.

He turned to Luffy. "You had this room made just for me, didn't you?" he asked.

Luffy nodded, grinning. "Do you like it?"

Zoro smiled. "Yeah, it's a lot better than the one I had at the beach house. I think I might actually enjoy this trip."

Honestly, Zoro _loved _this room. He didn't think Luffy could do anything nice for anyone. But after the past few days, Zoro should have expected this.

Luffy grinned and walked out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Zoro asked.

"To go get my luggage," Luffy answered. "I can't unpack if I don't have anything _to _unpack."

Zoro blinked. He hadn't even _thought _of bringing his luggage upstairs. He was getting distracted. He sighed and followed Luffy.

Downstairs, Sanji was in the kitchen, unpacking the ingredients while Chopper watched. Every time Sanji pulled something out of a bag or box, Chopper would check it off on a list he was holding.

Robin was presumably upstairs, unpacking in her room, since her luggage wasn't by the door where she had left it when she first came into the house, and she was nowhere to be seen.

Usopp was, of course, in front of the TV, playing video games. Every once in a while he shouted something weird into this headset thing he wore.

Nami was downstairs by the door, getting her luggage. Apparently she had thought of that before Luffy did.

"Hey, Nami!" Luffy said.

"What?" Nami said, distracted. She was trying to get her luggage unstuck from Sanji's. It looked like Sanji had attached hers to his so there would be an excuse for them to room together or something.

"Oh, nothing. I was just saying hi. And could you move so I can get my luggage?" he pushed her, though gently, aside. Then he grabbed his luggage and walked past her again.

Zoro watched that whole episode thoughtfully. He knew Luffy and Nami liked each other, but he wasn't able to tell how much.

Nami saw him looking at her, so she said, "What?"

Zoro shook his head. "Nothing," he said, grabbing his luggage and following after Luffy.

Nami watched him leave, a curious look on her face. He was up to something, she knew it. He _had _to be planning revenge. There wasn't any other reason why he would have looked at her like that.

Nami sighed. She was going to have to be on her guard from now on.

* * *

**I had trouble writing this for a while, so I took a break. And when I started up again, BANG! Tons of ideas and dialogue flooded through my imaginative imagination. This chapter, though shorter than I would have liked it to be, was fairly fun and easy to write. I hope it stays that way.**

**Note: "Royal Blue" is actually a color. I couldn't think of a shade of blue that would suit Luffy, so I looked up a bunch of different shades until I found one that I thought could be the color of his room.  
**


	9. Unexpected Denial

"Dinner is ready!" Sanji called from the kitchen.

Luffy perked up. He had finished unpacking his stuff and was sitting on his bed, looking out of the window. He could have gone out onto the balcony if he had wanted to, but he was too tired. After the mention of food, however, Luffy jumped out of bed with all the energy of a toddler.

Running out of his room, he ran into Nami in the hall. _Literally _ran into her.

"Ow!" she said, crashing into the opposite wall and falling down on her butt. "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry," Luffy said, and grabbed her elbow. He helped her up, and after making sure she was okay, his brain screamed, "FOOD" at him and he ran down the stairs.

Nami shook her head.

"Luffy run into you?" Zoro asked, coming up behind her.

She jumped, and then resumed walking. "Yeah," she said.

"Well, you better get used to it," he said. "Every time he's hungry and hears mention of food, he's just going to zoom out of his room."

"I'll keep that in mind," Nami said, walking down the stairs.

Downstairs, Usopp had put away the video games, at least for now, and was sitting at the kitchen table. Chopper was sitting next to him in the same spot he had been in when he was helping Sanji unpack the food.

Robin was sitting across from Chopper at the end of the table. Luffy, of course, was sitting at the seat closest to the food, making him look lonesome sitting by himself at the end of the table.

Zoro came in and sat across from him. Nami sat between Luffy and Robin.

There were two empty seats, one at the end, next to Chopper, and the other next to Robin and across from Usopp.

"Hey love-cook," Zoro said, "I'm hungry. Hurry up."

"Shut it, moss-head! Or you won't get any food." Sanji handed out steaming plates of food, giving the first two to Nami and Robin, naturally.

Luffy's mouth started watering, and drool started dripping out of the corner of his mouth.

Wordlessly, Zoro handed him a napkin, distracting Luffy long enough so that there wouldn't be a puddle underneath his chin.

Sanji handed Luffy his food, which was piled three times as high as everyone else's, and gave the last plate to Zoro, out of habit. Then he sat down next to Robin and began eating. Everyone else did as well.

Luffy, despite the fact that his plate had so much more food on it, consumed everything within a minute. "Saaaanjiiii," he begged. "I'm still hungry."

"Well, go get more food," he said. "But I'm watching you. Don't you dare take a bite over three more servings. Or I'll kick you."

Luffy whimpered quietly. Sanji's kicks hurt. He knew that from experience. "I won't."

He stood and walked over to the pot. There was a giant spoon sticking out of the top, so he grabbed that and put a bunch of food on his plate. Luffy put the spoon back in the pot and sat back down.

His next plate was gone within a minute as well, but this time Luffy was full. Well, as full as Luffy could get, anyway. He sat back and rubbed his belly.

Luffy never left the kitchen until everyone else was done eating, too, in case there were some extras he could eat.

"Hey Luffy…aren't you bored?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah, why?" Luffy swirled his fingers around the pattern on the tablecloth.

"Well, if you're bored, why do you sit at the table after you're done eating?" he put some food in his mouth.

Luffy grinned. "Because I want the extra food, of course."

Sanji shook his head. "You're not getting it."

Luffy pouted. "But it would save space in the garbage!"

"No. Only pigs eat the scraps." Sanji finished his food and stood.

Luffy looked at Sanji's plate. "But _you _ate the scraps," he said. "See? You're plate's empty."

Sanji looked at his plate, opened his mouth like he was about to say something, thought better of it, and walked over to the sink.

Luffy, deciding he would have the scraps whether Sanji wanted him to or not, spoke up. "Does anyone have any scraps they would like to give to their captain?" he asked.

"Luffy, I _told _you, you're _not _getting the scraps!" Sanji turned around from where he was doing the dishes.

"Sanji, you cannot tell me what to do. That's my job. And I'm the captain, so you have to listen to what I say. If I want the scraps, I can have the scraps. Got it?" he growled.

Zoro was trying his hardest not to laugh at Luffy's outburst. He could see that Nami was amused as well, as well as Chopper.

Robin, deciding to break the argument by siding with Luffy, said, "Here, Luffy. You can have my scraps." She handed him her plate.

Luffy stuck out his tongue at Sanji before taking the plate from Robin. "Thank you," he said.

Robin smiled at him. "No problem."

"You can have my scraps, too," Chopper said.

Luffy took his with a grin.

One at a time, the whole crew gave Luffy their leftovers.

Sanji stared, his face turning redder and redder with every person who gave Luffy food. He stalked up to Luffy, about to take the food away from him, when Luffy swallowed it all in one gulp.

Sanji snatched the plates away. "That's the last time you'll be doing that," he growled.

Zoro laughed, not able to hold it in anymore. His laughing was like setting off a bomb. Everyone else started laughing as well, including Luffy.

A tic began forming over Sanji's brow. His breathing became more strained, and his body began shaking. Finally, he exploded.

"GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN!" he exploded, waving his fists wildly.

Snickering, everyone left the kitchen, leaving Sanji to clean up.

While cleaning, he had an idea. He would set a trap for Luffy, so the next time he tried coming into the kitchen at night to steal food, he would be trapped.

Sanji snickered. This was going to be fun.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Hey, Zoro!" Luffy said, walking into his room.

Zoro was sprawled out on the bed, snoring.

Luffy rolled his eyes and jumped on his first mate, preventing him from reaching his swords.

"GET OFF ME!" Zoro roared, trying to force Luffy off of his chest. He swung a fist at Luffy's head.

Luffy, laughing, jumped off of Zoro and danced away.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

"I came in here to discuss tactics with you, but you were asleep, and it's only 7:30. So I decided I needed to wake you up, and I didn't want to get my head chopped off in the process."

_Tactics? What's he talking about? _Zoro thought. Out loud, he said, "Oh, so _that's _why you blocked me from reaching my swords."

Luffy tilted his head to one side, confused. Zoro should have already figured that out. He _was _a master swordsman, after all. In the end he decided that Zoro was using that as cover for not knowing what "tactics" Luffy was talking about. He grinned.

"So, let's talk tactics," he said.

"Okay," Zoro answered.

"You go first."

Zoro's eye twitched. "I don't know what you're talking about," he admitted.

"Ha! I know! I was just playing with you, that's all!" Luffy laughed. "The tactics I was talking about was for how to get revenge on Nami and Robin for the luggage thing."

Zoro's eyes widened. "Oh."

"Yeah, so, do you want to talk about your ideas with me or are you going to be all like, 'GET OUT OF MY ROOM I CAN DO IT MYSELF'?

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM I CAN DO IT MYSELF!" Zoro roared.

Luffy left Zoro's room, the door slamming behind him. "Well, that answers _that _question," he muttered.

Suddenly, he saw Chopper coming up the stairs.

"What do you want, little dude?" Luffy asked.

"I just wanted to talk to Zoro…" he Chopper saw Luffy standing outside Zoro's closed door. "He slammed the door on you, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but I was just playing with him. I bet he'd talk to you." Luffy walked over to the doorway of his room.

"You think so?" Chopper raised his hoof, ready to knock. But before he could, the door opened.

Zoro was coming out of his room to go down to the kitchen and get some food, and he almost tripped over Chopper. But he stopped himself just in time.

"Whoa!" Zoro said.

"Hey, Zoro!" Chopper replied, completely oblivious to the fact that he had almost been tripped over, since he had been looking at Luffy.

"What's up?" he leaned against the side of the doorway.

"Can…can I come in? There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

"Does Sanji have cancer?" Luffy blurted out. "Because that would be, oh so cool! And I could have all the food I want!"

Zoro glared at Luffy. "You are not in this conversation, for one thing, and another thing, if Sanji _did _have cancer, he would be too weak to cook food in the first place. So _get lost!_"

Luffy frowned. "Whatever," he said, going into his room and closing the door.

Chopper frowned, uncomfortable. He didn't like it when his captain and the first mate argued, even if most of the time it was all in fun.

"Come in," Zoro said, taking a breath.

Chopper followed Zoro, shutting the door behind him. He took the chair at the computer desk and turned it around to face him while Zoro stretched out on the bed.

"I had another dream," he confessed.

"Really?" Zoro said, sitting up. "It's been awhile."

"Well, actually, I had this dream earlier today while we were still driving here. I fell asleep in the van." He twiddled his thumbs (well, hooves in this case).

"Okay," Zoro said. "So what happened?"

"Well…" he paused. "Buggy got to our old beach house."

"He did _what?_"

"Yeah, he got there, and then he went through it to see if he could find any evidence that we had lived there."

"So, he knew we were there," Zoro mused. "Do you know _why _he wanted to find evidence?"

"Unfortunately, yeah," Chopper said. "He wanted to find proof that we had lived there because he's trying to get us in jail for the crimes we committed years ago."

Zoro sighed. "Well, I hope he didn't find anything. Did he?"

Chopper swallowed. "Yes."

Zoro just stared. "What was it?" he asked, even though he had a feeling he already knew.

"You're not going to be happy about this, but…it was your lucky pen."

Zoro's eye twitched. "The one that had my name on it…"

Chopper nodded.

"GOD DARNIT!" Zoro exploded. He got up off of his bed and began pacing. "I _knew _I should have packed that."

"He also found something else," Chopper said, trying to help. "Just one thing wouldn't have been enough to convince the police. But he found something else too."

Zoro stopped pacing. "What was it?"

"Sanji's toothbrush."

Zoro sighed angrily and made an irritated noise. "This is going to end up in a fight," he muttered.

Chopper thought for a minute. "Yeah, probably," he said. "But I have an idea for you to be on the winning side."

"What's that?"

"Well, I overheard Sanji saying he was going to set up a trap in the kitchen for Luffy tonight and…" he trailed off.

Zoro snapped his fingers. "If _I _got into the trap instead, since I can go through the kitchen as a shortcut to the backyard, then he'll be at fault! You're a genius, Chopper!"

Chopper grinned, embarrassed. "By the way, I never finished telling you about my dream."

"There was more?" Zoro sat down on his bed, excited energy coursing through his veins.

"Yeah. After he found out that we had lived there, he turned in the evidence to the police. And also, since he thinks that they'll take longer to get here than he will, he's headed here as well."

"But how does he know where we are now?" Zoro asked, confused.

"Well, I don't understand exactly, but what I _did _get was that Buggy just, _sniffed _the evidence and it told him where we were."

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "A new power?" he wondered.

"Oh! And one more thing. When Buggy, uh, gave up who he was and disguised himself, I guess, his Chop-Chop powers disappeared. He doesn't have them anymore."

Zoro stared at Chopper. "Are you sure?" he asked. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Me neither, but unless the dreams are lying, which I hope they're not, then it's true. And, I figured out a way to know whether my dreams were in the present or the future."

"What's that?"

"Well, I left my electronic calendar there, hidden of course, and since I can control where I go in my dreams sometimes, I go there and look at what the date is."

"Did you do it this time?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah. It happens in a week."

"A week…hmm. I have an idea. Do you think, if we sent Luffy back there to get his car and tell him to stop at the house and get a few things, do you think we can prevent that from happening?"

Chopper's eyes lit up. "I never thought of that!" he exclaimed. He took out his notebook and hurriedly did some equations. "If he leaves tomorrow morning at sunrise, and moves as fast as he can, then he could be back in three days!"

Zoro nodded. "You should go tell him."

"Okay," Chopper said, standing. "And you go get yourself stuck in Sanji's trap later."

"I will," he said.

Chopper walked over to the door and opened it. Turning one last time, he winked. "Hope the trap's not too uncomfortable," he said. Then he left, closing the door behind him gently with a barely audible _click. _

-x-x-x-x-x-

Chopper knocked on Luffy's door.

"Who is it?" Luffy asked.

"Chopper."

"Come in."

Chopper opened the door and went inside. He closed the door behind him.

"What do you want?" Luffy sat up from where he was laying on the floor, staring out the window.

"I have a favor to ask of you." Chopper began explaining his idea, repeating things sometimes because he was so excited.

When Chopper was finally done, Luffy thought a moment, did some calculations in his head, (or whatever passes for calculations in his head, anyway) and stood.

"No."

* * *

**Ha! Bet you never saw that coming! I actually came up with the idea of Buggy losing his Chop-Chop powers a while ago, but couldn't figure out how to incorporate it into the storyline. Well, problem solved! Heh heh. Now what should happen next...? Hmm. I gotta think about that little conundrum. **


	10. Six Days Early

Chopper just stood there, his jaw touching the floor. "Why not?"

Luffy turned, his hat covering his eyes. "Because I don't want to."

"B-b-b-b-b-ut…"

Luffy grinned suddenly and moved his hat off of his face. "I was just kidding, buddy!" he said. "Of course I'll do it! It'll be like traveling back in time, kind of! Plus, I'll get to see my pretty car again!"

Chopper almost fainted with relief. "Thank goodness!" he said.

"So I'll be leaving in the morning, huh?" Luffy asked, completely ignoring Chopper's last comment.

"Yeah," he said. "You'll need to pack some food tonight so you'll be ready. You don't want Buggy to be there when you are."

Luffy, knowing the power of Buggy's devil fruit, nodded. "His devil fruit is powerful."

"Luffy…" Chopper paused.

"Yeah?"

"Well, here's the thing. Buggy doesn't exactly _have _his Chop-Chop power anymore, but seemed to have developed a new power in its place."

Luffy just stared. "You mean to tell me…that Buggy isn't a Chop-Chop man?"

"Not anymore, no," Chopper answered. "But don't underestimate him. He figured out where we are now by sniffing those few things I told you about."

Luffy nodded. "I understand," he said. "I'll be back in a jiffy." Then he opened the door and walked out.

It took Chopper a minute to fully understand what Luffy was doing. But when he did, he chased after Luffy like there was no tomorrow. "WAIT!"

Chopper finally caught Luffy downstairs in the kitchen, packing a bag. "You can't leave yet!" he exclaimed.

"Sure I can! I'm a rubber man!"

Chopper blinked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I don't need sleep!"

"Yeah you do! Remember your battle with Captain Kuro? You fell asleep afterwards." Chopper said.

Luffy thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah!" He finally said. "I guess I do need sleep…but I can sleep on the way."

Zoro walked into the kitchen. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Chopper's trying to stop me from leaving now," Luffy explained, momentarily forgetting the fact that Zoro had slammed a door in his face a few minutes earlier.

Zoro looked at Luffy, then at Chopper.

Zoro sighed. "I don't know why I'm saying this, but, Luffy, you can leave now if you want to. I'll watch over things while you're gone."

"Ha! I told you, Chopper!" Luffy danced in a circle.

Chopper's eye twitched.

"But not if you keep acting like that," Zoro continued.

Luffy immediately stopped dancing. "Sorry," he said.

Chopper sighed. "I guess I'll finish packing your bag," he said, annoyed.

-x-x-x-

Luffy shut the door behind him and stretched. He sighed. The fresh air felt so good.

He walked along the side of the road towards the train station. He had figured it would take less time to ride the train than to rocket himself back. Although…

"GOMU GOMU NO ROCKET!" Luffy yelled, grabbing on to two trees, one on each side of the road.

-x-x-x-

A second later, he landed behind the train station.

"Ha! It _was _faster to rocket to the train station!" he muttered, talking to himself.

Luffy walked around to the front of the building and walked in. The train was set to leave in ten minutes, and boarding had already started. If he hadn't rocketed himself to the train station when he did, he would've missed the train.

Luffy pulled his ticket out of his pack and swiped it through the slot before handing it to the ticket lady. She scanned it and punched a hole in it, then handed it back.

"Thanks," he said.

The lady nodded.

-x-x-x-

Luffy walked up the stairs and into the train. Since the only bag he had was a carry-on, he hadn't needed to get his luggage checked.

He sat in one of the plush seats and sighed happily. In less than a minute, he was asleep.

-x-x-x-

Eight hours later, the train arrived.

Luffy awoke and stretched. That annoying lady was on the loudspeaker again.

"Train B-6 has arrived at its destination. Train B-6 has arrived at its destination."

Luffy growled. "Shut…up…"

Deciding he needed some fresh air, _now, _before he exploded, he stood and got off the train.

A minute later, Luffy had a thought. "MY CAR!" he screamed, attracting the attention of the other people who had been on the train.

He found his car a few seconds later, exactly where he had left it.

He got in and started the engine. Luckily Chopper had remembered to pack his key.

He grinned and turned up the radio. This was going to be a fun drive back.

-x-x-x-

Two hours later, he arrived at the beach house. The sun was just beginning to rise, reflecting off of the ocean.

He walked up to the door and turned the doorknob. It was locked.

Luckily, there was an emergency window where people could get in if they didn't have a key.

Once Luffy climbed through the window, he closed it again and locked it. He wanted to make it as hard as possible for Buggy to get in. Then he went to the front of the house and unlocked the door for when he had to leave.

Opening his bag, he found a list of the things he needed to get.

Luffy walked around the house, grabbing those things along with anything else that was a personal possession to anyone, and put them in his bag.

Then he took out the disinfectant wipes and disinfected every sniffable surface so Buggy would have no idea where they were.

Luffy yawned. He was tired from all that driving and he really hadn't gotten that much sleep on the train. Only eight hours out of his usual eleven.

However, he knew he couldn't sleep in his bed or even on the couch, because that would leave D.N.A. where Buggy could see it.

He sighed. He would have to drive and find a hotel to stay in.

He was about to leave when he heard a noise. Someone was prowling around on the front porch, and that was the door that was unlocked.

Luffy's heart started pounding faster. He swallowed and crouched down, hoping whoever it was would just go away.

He thought that the person had left, and was about to get up when the doorknob started to turn.

The door swung open slowly, letting a shaft of light into the dim house.

Luffy held his breath. Was it Buggy?

Luffy shook his head slightly. No, it couldn't be. Buggy wasn't supposed to come for six more days.

And yet...what if Chopper was wrong?

* * *

**So? Is it Buggy? Or is it someone else?**

**Was Chopper wrong? Why am I asking all these questions?  
**

**Why are you reading this?  
**

**Heh heh. Rainbow flavored muffin-cakes...  
**

**Stupid me.  
**

**Anyway, this story is getting good...never thought that Buggy would lose his powers, now did you? And now he has a new one!  
**

**Stay tuned...!  
**

**Chapter 11 is gonna be good! *evil laugh*  
**


	11. Changing the Future

Nami awoke. Something was wrong.

She sat up and looked around. Everything seemed normal.

But, just in case, she decided to check it out.

After going through the whole house and finding nothing, Nami put it to a bad dream and went to the kitchen for a snack.

-x-x-x-

Chopper rolled over in his sleep. Suddenly he bolted upright, eyes wide, breathing hard. He _had _to tell Zoro.

-x-x-x-

Zoro stretched. He thought he had heard someone moving around outside his room. Suddenly, his stomach growled. He decided to check out the house and go down to the kitchen afterwards.

-x-x-x-

Chopper opened Zoro's door to find…nothing. Zoro wasn't there.

Chopper began to panic. But, knowing panicking didn't help in any situation, he took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. The only other place Zoro could be was the kitchen.

-x-x-x-

Nami looked through the cupboards, trying to find something she wanted. She finally decided on some crackers and put some on a plate.

She turned around and gave a little yelp of surprise. Zoro was standing there.

-x-x-x-

Zoro hadn't expected to find Nami in the kitchen.

When she turned around and saw him, she yelped.

Zoro frowned. Something was bothering her.

-x-x-x-

Chopper entered the kitchen to find Zoro and Nami sitting at the table. Both looked up as he entered, eyes wild, hat missing.

-x-x-x-

Zoro was surprised when Chopper, after finally finding him, ran up to him and climbed onto his lap.

-x-x-x-

Chopper climbed onto Zoro's lap and hugged him, burying his face in Zoro's chest.

"What's wrong?" Zoro asked.

"Luffy…"

Zoro looked at Nami, who finally realized why she had felt that something was wrong when she woke up. Luffy was in trouble.

-x-x-x-

"Why are we up this early?" Sanji whined. "It's only six A.M."

The whole crew, minus Luffy, obviously, was gathered in the kitchen.

"Yeah," Usopp said. "Why _are _we here so early?"

Chopper tried to calm himself down. There were tear stains on his face, and he was hyperventilating. He still hadn't managed to tell anyone what had happened to Luffy.

Nami was stressed, Chopper could tell, and he would have made her some tea if he had been up to it.

Zoro just sat there, Chopper in his lap, trying to calm him down. He _really _wanted to know what had happened to Luffy, but he would never know if Chopper didn't calm down.

Zoro picked Chopper up and held him in front of his face. Then, slowly, and deliberately, he slapped him. Again and again until Chopper was more preoccupied with rubbing his face than crying. It was how Zoro managed to calm down everyone on the crew. Well, only Luffy. But apparently it worked on Chopper, too.

Nami spoke. "It's Luffy…"

"He's in trouble?" Robin asked.

Nami nodded.

Zoro stood and placed Chopper on the table.

-x-x-x-

Chopper swallowed. But before he could say anything, he broke down again. "I NEVER WANTED THIS!" he wailed. "I NEVER WANTED TO HAVE THESE DREAMS!" he choked on a sob.

Zoro grabbed Chopper again and held him, rubbing his back forcefully.

Nami stood and motioned for Zoro to hand him Chopper.

She had to calm him down. He was no help to anyone in his delusional state.

Zoro handed Chopper to her and she sat back down. "Someone please make us some tea," she said.

While Sanji worked on that, Nami tried to calm Chopper down. "Chopper," she said. "Listen to me." She shook him lightly.

Chopper looked up at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Is Luffy in danger?"

Chopper nodded.

Nami swallowed, trying to hide her worry.

Suddenly, Usopp spoke up. "Chopper, you've never cried when any of us have been in danger before," he said. "So I think you're crying about something completely different."

Chopper nodded again.

Nami took over. "What is it?" she asked him softly, turning him so he couldn't see any of his crewmembers. "Tell me."

Chopper swallowed, still half-crying. "I…I WAS WRONG!" he said that forcefully.

Nami blinked. "What do you mean?" she said, still talking softly.

"_I told Luffy Buggy would be there in a week, and that he had plenty of time to get there and back. But Buggy's there NOW!" _he yelled, letting out another heart-wrenching sob.

Nami pulled Chopper into a hug. "Oh, Chopper," she said. "Everyone is wrong once in a while. It's normal."

Chopper's sobs slowly faded away.

Sanji walked around, handing everyone a cup of tea.

Chopper took a sip. "I know…but…now Luffy could die because of ME!" he hiccupped.

Zoro chuckled. "Luffy won't die," he said. "You _do _know him, right? He can take care of himself just fine."

Chopper took a deep breath. "I know he can," he said, "But it's not that that worries me. It's Buggy's new power. I don't even understand it."

"Do you know anything else about it?" Usopp asked.

"Only that his senses are extremely enhanced. I don't know if that means anything or not."

Zoro nodded slowly. "What did you see in the dream?"

Chopper hiccupped again. "I saw Luffy, going around the house getting the stuff like he was supposed to, and then I saw Buggy outside the front door, which was unlocked. And then Luffy was crouched in a corner. And after that…" he broke off.

"What?" Nami said, softly.

"There was this…I don't know…invisible force or something that Buggy used and it hit Luffy," he took a drink of tea, his hands shaking.

"Then you woke up?" Nami asked.

Chopper nodded.

Zoro sighed. "Whatever it is, did it do any damage to Luffy that you could see?"

Chopper thought for a moment, his brain function going back to normal. "I think."

"Was it bad?" Nami asked.

"It didn't kill him or make him pass out, that's for sure, but I don't really know what it did."

Zoro nodded. "So I guess we just wait for him to come back."

"What if he doesn't come back?" Usopp said, teeth chattering with fright.

"He will," Zoro said. "I believe in him, as does Nami."

Nami nodded, although a faint blush crossed her features.

-x-x-x-

Luffy held completely still. He didn't want whoever it was to see him.

But whoever it was stepped into the house, creating a shadow on the wall from the sun.

It was Buggy.

-x-x-x-

Chopper detached himself from Nami and slipped down onto the floor.

Everyone else had taken a seat at the kitchen table, eating the crackers Nami had forgotten about and drinking the tea.

"I'm going to go wash my face," Chopper said, walking out of the kitchen and going upstairs.

-x-x-x-

Buggy took another step into the house and looked around.

Luckily, Luffy was hiding around the corner in the kitchen, so Buggy couldn't see him. He let out his breath slowly and silently before taking another one.

Unfortunately, Buggy was walking towards the kitchen, where, if Luffy remembered correctly, Zoro's pen had been.

Now it was time to change the future.

He sprang out in front of Buggy, shouting, hoping that the element of surprise would work.

"GOMU GOMU NO GATLING GUN!" a barrage of fists shot out at Buggy.

Buggy concentrated, and an invisible barrier swept the fists away.

Luffy stood there, shell-shocked. He didn't even have time to get out of the way before another wave shot out, hitting him.

He gasped and fell to the floor, writhing as invisible hands grabbed him and held him down.

Buggy cackled. "I gave up my Chop-Chop power to disguise myself," he said, "And I thought I would be powerless forever. Then a man came up to me and told me to follow him, so I did. He offered me this power in exchange for evidence that you had lived here."

"Well, you're not gonna get it!" Luffy said, still fighting off the invisible hands.

"Oh, I think you're evidence enough," Buggy said, rubbing his hands together.

Luffy stopped fighting, realizing what Buggy was saying. He was going to be kidnapped.

He resumed struggling, harder than before, and Buggy winced. The hands disappeared.

"Although, there is one problem with this power," Buggy said as Luffy got up.

"And what's that?"

"Since I'm going to kidnap you, I guess there's no harm in telling…whenever the invisible things are hit or wounded, I feel the same amount of pain."

Luffy thought about that for a minute. "So…your hands hurt now."

"Yes. And soon, you will be hurting as well!" Another invisible wave shot out, but Luffy knew it was coming and jumped up into the air, hanging on to the chandelier.

Luffy stuck out his tongue as the wave missed him, crashing into the wall.

"AAH! MY FOOT!" Buggy yelled, hopping up and down.

Luffy laughed, dropping back down onto the floor. "GOMU GOMU NO BAZOOKA!" he cackled, stretching his arms back as far as they could go.

Buggy stood there. "Not again!" he said as Luffy's palms hurtled towards him.

They hit him with a loud _smack _and sent Buggy flying into the wall with a _boom, leaving_ a dent.

"That's gonna hurt in the morning!" Luffy said, dusting his hands together.

Buggy groaned, picking himself up off the floor. "You're gonna pay for this!"

"Not yet! GOMU GUMO NO TSUCHI!" he spun his arms around and grabbed Buggy.

Buggy spun around and around before landing on his butt in the middle of the floor, head spinning.

Luffy walked over to Buggy with some rope he found to tie him up. But right when he bent over to slip the rope on him, Luffy felt a pain in his left shoulder. He looked and saw that Buggy had pulled out a dagger and stabbed it into his shoulder.

Luffy gritted his teeth against the pain and finished tying Buggy up. Then he picked him up with his right hand and took him to the car.

On the way out, he grabbed his bag with his left hand, wincing as he did so, and locked the door behind him. Then he went down to the car and shoved Buggy into the back seat, which resulted in Buggy getting a seat belt in his mouth, effectively gagging him. Then Luffy closed the door and climbed in the front seat. He started the engine and drove away.

-x-x-x-

A few minutes later, Luffy arrived at the police station. He opened the backseat and grabbed Buggy with his right hand, closing the door with the other.

It was only seven in the morning, so the town wasn't very busy.

Luffy opened the door and stepped inside, Buggy in tow.

When the officer on duty saw who Luffy had brought in, he gasped and called for his commander.

"Well, well," the commander said. "Looks like you caught yourself a pirate, kiddo."

Luffy refrained from mentioning that he too was a pirate, and instead handed Buggy over to the commander.

After receiving Buggy, the commander noticed Luffy's shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked. "You're hurt."

"I'm fine," he said, even though it hurt really bad. He would need to have Chopper look at it when he got back.

Then he turned and walked out the door. "Don't forget to give him to the marines," Luffy called as an afterthought.

He sighed and got in the car. He had a long drive ahead of him.

* * *

**Note: Gomu gomu no tsuchi was used to defeat Buggy originally, in the real episodes. That's why Buggy said, "Not again," before he was hit.**

**Now my opinion has changed. My new favorite chapter is this one. :)  
**

**And, before you ask, yes Chopper had a mental breakdown. He's never wrong...about doctor stuff anyway. He was really upset with himself.  
**

**Aw yeah! And no, the story isn't almost over. I don't think it is, anyway. Just because Buggy was caught doesn't mean he's gone forever...*evil grin*  
**


	12. Caught Again!

Chopper stood at the sink and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He watched as yet another tear rolled down his face.

"I…I've never…I've never been wrong before!" he murmured, still unable to believe his mistake. He splashed some water on his face, watching as the drops rolled down his face and dripped off into the sink.

-x-x-x-

Luffy sighed and turned up the radio. He was happy to be in his car again. However, he'd have to wash the inside thoroughly when he got back to cleanse it of Buggy's germs.

He winced and rubbed his shoulder. He hoped it wasn't too serious, and that the blade wasn't poisoned. Man, that would suck. The poison kicking in right about now, making him crash his car…

Luffy shook his head. That wasn't gonna happen.

He sang along to the song on the radio, which happened to be "Gold" by Owl City.

When the song ended, he sighed. He still had another three hours of driving left. He may as well get some food.

He pulled into the parking lot of McDonald's and drove into the drive through lane. After staring at the menu for a minute, he drove up to the ordering station.

"I'd like three hamburger value meals and a large bottle of Coke, please," he said.

"_Your total will be $9.50. Please pull around to the first window."_

Luffy pulled around and reached over into the glove compartment. He pulled out his large wad of emergency money and took a ten-dollar bill. He paid the lady and pulled ahead to the food window.

The smell was making him twitchy, and he hoped the people would hurry up and make his food. Sure, it was ten in the morning, but they shouldn't be slacking off.

A minute later, the window opened and a man handed him his food. He thanked him and drove off.

As he munched, he wondered how Chopper was faring.

_I bet he's really freaking out, _Luffy thought. "I wish there was some way I could let him know I'm okay…"

Suddenly Luffy had an idea. He pictured Chopper in his mind and sent him a mental thought. _I'm fine, though injured. Nothing serious. I forgive you. Be ready to treat me when I get back. _

Luffy hoped it had worked. He stopped at a red light and unwrapped the second hamburger and shoved a handful of fries in his mouth.

-x-x-x-

Chopper sat down on the edge of the bathtub, feeling sorry for himself, when Luffy appeared in his mind.

His eyes widened and he listened carefully.

"_I'm fine, though injured. It's nothing serious. I forgive you. Be ready to treat me when I get back." _Then there was a view of where Luffy was at.

Chopper stood and rushed out of the bathroom. He had maybe three hours before Luffy would arrive.

He flew into the kitchen. "Luffy'll be back in about three hours," he announced. "He's injured."

Zoro looked up. "How do you know all this?"

Chopper smiled. "He sent me a psychic message." Then he rushed off to the his room to get the supplies he needed for Luffy. He wondered what kind of injury he had.

Zoro raised his eyebrows, "Since when is Luffy a psychic?" he muttered.

"I don't know," Nami said.

Zoro shook his head. "All these new abilities…"

Robin smirked. "You think you're going to develop a new ability as well?"

"How did you know?"

But Robin just smiled mysteriously.

"My wonderful Robin-chan has lovely powers!" Sanji said, his eyes turning into hearts.

"Shut up, ero-cook!" Zoro said. "I wish I could have a new ability, though…"

"You're just jealous!" Sanji exclaimed.

"I AM NOT!" Zoro yelled.

And with that, the two of them began dueling in the kitchen.

Robin sighed and left, followed by everyone else. They all congregated in the living room.

"I think Sanji will win that fight," Usopp said. "With him being in his home territory and all."

"Possibly," Robin said.

-x-x-x-

Luffy sighed happily as he pulled into the driveway. He was really tired and was feeling woozy from blood loss.

He got out of the car and slammed the door, humming happily. He hoped he didn't need to stay inside tomorrow. He wanted to go swimming.

He slowly climbed the steps to the front door, using the railing for support. His foot caught the top step and his legs buckled, bringing him crashing to the floor.

Luffy moaned and tried to sit up, but failed. "Guys?" He called. "A little help here…"

-x-x-x-

"I believe Luffy has returned," Robin said, after hearing Luffy on the porch.

Everyone rushed to the door, even Zoro and Sanji, who were both sporting some nasty bruises.

Nami flung open the door to see Luffy lying on the porch, looking up at them. "Hey, guys," he said. I'm back."

"Luffy!" Nami exclaimed, kneeling beside him. "What happened?" She tore off his vest and stared at the deep wound in his arm.

"Buggy stabbed me. I'll be fine." Luffy was a little perplexed at how Nami was acting. But, in truth, he liked it. It made him feel important, like he was wanted.

Chopper pushed his way through everyone and knelt down next to Luffy. "We need to get you inside. It's chilly out and we don't need you getting sick as well." He looked at Zoro.

Zoro nodded and picked up Luffy, being careful not to touch or jostle his wounded arm. Then he carried him inside, everyone moving out of the way, and laid him on the couch.

Chopper grabbed the supplies he had prepared and bustled around him while everyone else hovered nearby in the kitchen.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. I don't know how you can even have the slightest doubt about him. He's been through worse many times over," Zoro said. But, even _he _was a little worried. Normally Luffy didn't show signs of blood loss until he had multiple wounds. This wound must be serious.

Nami swallowed and nodded. "You're right," she said. "I shouldn't be worrying."

Sanji reached over and patted her hand. "That's my Nami-swan!" he praised. "Fearless!"

"Oh, just shut up." Zoro rubbed his temples.

"What did you just say?" Sanji growled, tightening his grip on Nami's hand.

"G-guys? P-please don't f-fight. We d-don't want L-Luffy to feel w-worse." Usopp stood as far away from the duo as he could, which wasn't far, despite the size of the kitchen.

Zoro looked over at Usopp and sighed. "You're right. We're all tired, and we haven't had much sleep for the past couple of days."

Suddenly there was a yelp of pain from Luffy, and everyone tensed.

"It's alright," Chopper called. "I'm just putting in the stitches."

A collective sigh ran around the group, and everyone relaxed.

But what Chopper didn't reveal was that he was extremely worried. It had taken him much longer than normal to stop the bleeding, and Luffy's body hadn't clotted the wound on its own. He wondered if the wound would ever heal…

He shook his head. Of course the wound would heal! Luffy probably had just strained it too much fighting Buggy and driving home. It was just like Luffy to do that. He was never worried about his own safety.

Chopper sighed as he added another stitch, getting another muffled yelp from his captain. He was tired and needed a nap, just like everyone else. He decided that after he was done taking care of Luffy, he would tell everyone else to get some sleep, and he would nap out here in the living room to watch Luffy.

* * *

**Sorry I took so long to update-I haven't really had that..._pull _for writing that I had the past few chapters. But here it is!**

**Note: Yes, I know Luffy has a Devil Fruit and therefore, shouldn't be able to swim. But, here's the thing. The sea takes away a Devil Fruit user's ability to swim, right? Well, a swimming pool isn't connected to the sea at all. Hence, Luffy can swim in a pool or a pond, or anything like that. At least in this story.  
**


	13. Exploring, Part Two

Chopper sighed as he put in the final stitch and wrapped some gauze around the wound.

Putting away his needle, he slumped down on the other couch. "Guys, I'm done!" he called.

Everyone jumped up and ran into the living room.

Luffy stirred slightly and looked around. "Hey guys," he said weakly.

"Are you okay?" Nami asked, kneeling next to him.

He nodded. "Chopper took care of it." But he had noticed Chopper's distress while he had been fixing him up and knew there was something he wasn't telling everyone.

Chopper took a deep breath. "I'm going to stay out here and watch him tonight," he announced. "You all should get some rest."

Sanji nodded. "Alright," he said, going upstairs. He was followed by Robin and Usopp.

Now only Nami and Zoro remained in the living room.

Zoro spoke. "Alright, Chopper. Tell us what you didn't tell them. I know there's something you're not telling us."

Chopper jumped but nodded. He took a breath and looked at Luffy. There was already a faint red stain on the gauze he had wrapped around Luffy's arm.

"Luffy…well, his body didn't clot the wound," he explained. "It just kept openly bleeding. Luckily it wasn't a larger wound, or he would have died from blood loss."

Nami grabbed Luffy's uninjured hand.

Zoro blinked and glanced at Luffy. He did look a little too pale. And he was still bleeding, the stain on the gauze getting darker with every passing minute.

Chopper took another breath. "I did what I could to stop the blood loss, but I'm not sure if it's enough…he's still bleeding too much." He motioned to the gauze.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Zoro said, trying to comfort Chopper. "He's really tough, and you're a great doctor."

Chopper gave a small smile. "You guys should get some sleep."

Zoro shook his head. "I'm staying up with Luffy," he said.

Nami squeezed Luffy's hand reassuringly. "Me too."

Chopper opened his mouth like he was about to protest, but shut it again and nodded.

Luffy mumbled something.

Nami leaned closer. "What did you say?" she asked.

Luffy took a shuddering breath. "Thanks…guys…"

Nami smiled. "You're welcome, Luffy." She gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

Luffy's eyes widened and he smiled.

Zoro chuckled. "I told you," he said. Then he walked over to the third couch and slid down onto the floor.

Nami smiled back and pulled a blanket over Luffy's bare chest. Then she lay down on the floor below the couch and went to sleep.

-x-x-x-

When Luffy awoke, the first thing he noticed was that he was in pain. _Excruciating _pain.

He moaned loudly and looked over at his arm.

The bandages were soaked through with blood and his arm was swollen up, making the gauze uncomfortably tight.

"Chopper…"

Chopper stirred. "What is it, Luffy?"

"My arm…"

Chopper sat up with a start, his eyes focusing on Luffy's arm.

"Luffy!" he said, rushing over to him.

The commotion caused both Nami and Zoro to wake up.

"Hnn?" Zoro grunted, rubbing his eyes. "Luffy?"

Nami sat up and stretched. "Luffy!" she exclaimed in horror. "Your arm!"

Zoro stood and moved beside the couch to better see his captain. "What's wrong with him?" he asked.

"I don't know…" Chopper unwrapped the gauze from Luffy's arm and shrank away a little.

Luffy stared at his arm, uncomprehending. The area around the wound was purple, and the stitches had all popped out. In the middle of the slice was a yellow bubble of pus.

Even Zoro was a little grossed out by what he saw.

Chopper took a small vial from his medical kit and took a blood sample from Luffy. "I'll have to analyze this," he said. "Maybe there's something I missed." He rushed off to his room.

Zoro sat down on the couch next to Luffy. "How does it feel?"

Beads of sweat stood out on the boy's forehead. "It…HURTS…"

Zoro's mouth set itself in a grim line. "You're going to be okay, Luffy," he said. "You've pushed through worse before. You can do it."

The mumbled words of encouragement made Luffy smile through his pain.

"I hope…Chopper fixes me up today…I want to go swimming."

Zoro chuckled. "I don't know if that's gonna happen today."

Nami stood and stared at Luffy's wound for a minute. Then she walked out to the kitchen.

"Where're you going?" Luffy asked.

"I have an idea," Nami called back.

Zoro raised his eyebrows.

A minute later she came back into the living room, a bundled up paper towel in her hand.

"Try this." She placed the paper towel directly on top of the wound.

"Ow!" Luffy shrieked, pulling away. "That hurts!"

"It's just ice," she explained. "I want to see if it'll clot your blood."

Zoro's eyes widened in understanding. He stood and moved out of the way so Nami could reach more easily.

Nami put the ice back on Luffy's arm.

Luffy whimpered and did his best not to pull away. But after a minute, the major pain subsided and the only thing that was left was a few twangs now and then.

Nami smiled satisfactorily. "See? It worked!" she pulled the ice away from the wound.

It had clotted nicely, the yellow ball of pus being put to good use. She replaced the ice.

Luffy sighed happily. He felt much better now.

Chopper came rushing back into the room. "I think I know—" he stopped as Luffy sat up and looked at him holding the ice on his arm with one hand.

"I'm fine now," he said. "Just put new stitches in and I'll be on my way." He grinned hugely.

Chopper moved slowly towards Luffy, his mouth still open in shock. "How?"

Luffy removed the ice from his arm and held it out, wincing a bit as he did so. "See? It's fine now." He replaced the ice.

Chopper blinked and went over to his medical kit. "I'll need some new stitches…" he grabbed those. Then he sat down next to Luffy and turned his arm over.

Nami and Zoro moved away and sat on the other couch, watching.

Luffy winced as the first stitch was sewn in, but it didn't hurt as much as it had the night before.

Zoro yawned. "What time is it, anyway?" he wondered aloud.

Nami glanced at the clock on the wall. "7:30," she said.

"That's too early…" Zoro complained.

Chopper finished putting in the stitches. "All done!" he said as he wrapped a fresh bandage around the wound.

"Great!" Luffy exclaimed. "So does that mean I can go swimming now?"

Everyone laughed.

"You probably shouldn't…but I guess you can for a little bit, as long as you don't strain your arm too much," Chopper allowed.

"YES!" Luffy pumped his good fist in the air.

Nami smiled and stood. "I really want to swim, too," she said. "I don't really know everything that's outside yet…why don't you take us on a tour?"

Luffy grinned. "Sure!" his face turned serious. "But only after I eat. I'm starving."

Zoro chuckled. "I'd enjoy a tour as well, so I know where everything is," he said.

"Me too," Chopper said, stretching.

"Well, I may as well get everyone up…" Luffy hopped off the couch and walked over to the wall. Pressing a button, he spoke into it.

"Hey everyone! GET UP! We're going exploring today!" He released the button and grinned.

"What was that?" Nami asked.

"It's a speaker system," Luffy explained. "There's a receiver in each of the bedrooms upstairs. Everyone heard me."

"That's cool!" Chopper said.

Zoro grunted as he heard thumping coming from upstairs.

"_Nami-swan! Robin-chan! Are you hungry?" _Sanji could be heard saying above.

Nami snickered. "He just doesn't learn, does he?" she shook her head.

Chopper walked into the kitchen and took a seat at the table. He was followed by Luffy, Zoro, and Nami.

-x-x-x-

Luffy inhaled his food, gulping down as much as he could.

"Why are you eating so much, so quickly?" Sanji asked. He knew how much Luffy normally ate, but…he was exceeding the amount he ate on his _birthday. _And that was saying something.

"Because," Luffy said, as if he were explaining math to a three year-old, "I need to have lots of energy for the tour and swimming."

Sanji, knowing that Luffy would get upset if he tried to argue with him, decided to agree. "Oh, alright."

"Luffy-kun, you should know you may not be able to swim today," Robin said.

Luffy jumped. The content expression on his face turned into a pout. "Why not?"

"Because," she said simply, "Your injury isn't healed."

Luffy scowled at his arm. "It'll be fine," he said. "Besides, Chopper said I could so long as I don't strain my arm too much."

Robin nodded. "Okay."

Luffy finished his fifteenth plate of food and stood up, stretching contentedly. "Come on, guys! Let's go on a tour!"

Everyone finished eating and stood up, forming a jumbled group behind Luffy.

Luffy marched out of the kitchen and out the back door into the sunlight. The white of the gauze on his arm stood out brightly in the morning rays.

He led them across the large expanse of grass to a small building about half a mile from the house.

"This is the pool shed," he announced, opening the doors.

Inside was an assortment of different equipment, from spare filters to beach balls and floaties.

"Where's the pool?" Sanji asked, looking around.

"In here," Luffy answered, running over to a high fence several steps away. He opened the gate with a flourish.

There were a chorus of _oohs _and _aahs _as the pool was revealed. Though they had seen it before, from the front of the house, it was much better close-up.

The clear blue water rippled in the slight breeze, reflecting prettily on the wooden deck. The pool was rectangular, with a shallow end that was about three feet deep, and a deep end of ten feet. In between was a gentle slope. There was a diving board and a slide in the deep end, the slide being one of the tube kind. It was pitch-black inside, and water was running down it.

"So much for touring!" Nami exclaimed, tearing off her clothes to reveal a bathing suit underneath. She ran across the deck and climbed onto the diving board. Bouncing slightly, she tested it.

Launching herself high in the air, she perfectly executed three front flips before assuming a diving position and knifing powerfully through the water with minimal splash.

Everyone applauded loudly when Nami resurfaced.

"Thanks!" she said. "Now are you all just going to stand there like illiterate monkeys or are you going to join me? The water's beautiful! And I _know _you all have bathing suits under your clothes." She disappeared under the water.

Zoro smirked. She really was such a smart-aleck. He pulled his shirt over his head, his muscular abs gleaming in the sun. Then he took off his shorts, revealing his swim trunks underneath.

Tossing his clothes aside, he ran across the deck and cannon-balled into the water, making a huge splash and soaking everyone.

His actions caused everyone to copy him. Clothes were thrown aside, shoes taken off, and soon everyone was in the water.

Luffy laughed gleefully and splashed Chopper with his good arm.

Chopper returned the splash with a huge wave that sent Luffy under.

He resurfaced, shaking his head and splattering everyone with water.

Zoro slunk beneath the surface and swam silently below Luffy. Reaching up, he grabbed the younger boy's shoulders and pulled him under, trapping him beneath him.

Luffy looked at Zoro and scowled. He began to fight viciously, punching and kicking. But under the water, his punches had little effect.

Zoro laughed, inhaling some water. He began choking, but unable to breath, he couldn't relieve himself.

Now he had a decision to make. Keep fighting Luffy or…get more air.

He decided that air was more important and shot upwards quickly, Luffy holding on to his waist.

Breaking the surface, he gasped and coughed. His nasal passages were burning.

Luffy surfaced next to him and took a huge gulp of air. Waiting until Zoro had coughed out all the water he had inhaled, he grabbed him and pulled him under.

Luffy set his feet down lightly on the bottom of the pool. Ten feet under, he yanked Zoro down until he was lying on the bottom. Then he perched on top of him, refusing to lose the wrestling match.

Zoro struggled, an uncomfortable pressure building in his ears. But he couldn't free himself.

Luffy brought his face down close to Zoro's, his eyes laughing.

Zoro scowled and bucked sharply. Luffy was thrown forwards slightly, and…their lips met.

Luffy's eyes widened and he pulled away.

Zoro's chest heaved in a silent laugh. At least now he wasn't trapped. He kicked powerfully against the bottom of the pool and broke the surface within seconds, gasping.

Luffy surfaced a few seconds later and spat out of the pool. "Gross!" he yelled, wiping his lips.

Zoro laughed.

Luffy scowled and swam away towards Nami.

Zoro heaved himself out of the pool and climbed the ladder to the tube slide. Reaching the top, he positioned himself properly and pushed off.

The ride was pitch black, and every sound he made echoed around him like a cave. There were several sharp turns, water pouring down on him every time.

Without warning, the slide ended and he was in the water. He kicked his legs and swam as close to the bottom as possible.

Coming up, he rested his elbows on the ledge on either side of him, facing the pool. He watched Luffy and Nami together. Suddenly, he had an idea.

Luffy came up silently behind Nami and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

She shrieked and spun around. Seeing it was only Luffy, she sighed. "Don't scare me again!"

Luffy chuckled. "If you say so." Then he grabbed her hand and dived below the water, towing her along.

Nami protested at first, but then, finding out she couldn't pull away, resented and allowed herself to be dragged down.

When he reached the bottom, he placed his feet down carefully before letting go of Nami.

They stood there, each wondering what they should do now that they were down there.

Nami took a slow step toward Luffy, slowed down by the weight of the water.

Luffy watched her, wondering what she was doing. He was surprised when she jumped toward him and encircled him in a hug, their bodies pressed close together.

Nami tugged Luffy up towards the surface. She needed air.

Luffy resisted and pulled her to him, making their lips meet softly.

Nami's eyes widened and she gasped in Luffy's mouth, taking some of his air.

Luffy smiled and broke away, swimming leisurely beneath the surface.

Nami stared after him for a minute before remembering that she _really _needed air, and she shot up towards the surface.

Gasping for breath, she held on to the side and tried to clear her head. It had felt so…nice.

Robin swam over to her and chuckled softly. "How was it?" she asked teasingly.

"You saw?"

She nodded.

Nami frowned slightly. "It was nice."

Robin smiled knowingly and swam away. "Maybe when you've recovered you can come join us in some pool volleyball," she called.

Nami nodded.

Zoro smirked and resurfaced. He _knew _they had liked each other.

Taking a breath, he decided it was time for revenge. He slipped silently beneath the water.

* * *

**This chapter is probably one of the best so far...in my opinion. I was going to add more, but decided I should leave you all with a cliffhanger. I know how much you hate those...TEN POINTS FOR ANYONE WHO GUESSES ZORO'S REVENGE PLAN!**

**P.S. Sorry it's been taking me so long to update-I've got school, and writing is no longer at the top of my list of things to do, unfortunately. But thanks for bearing with me!  
**


	14. Wrath of the Fire Dragon

Zoro kicked his legs fiercely, shooting through the deep water with ease. Although the object in his hands slowed him down, it wasn't by much. He knew he only had one try for this to work.

Reaching the bottom of the pool, he set his feet down carefully before uncoiling the rope he had brought. Mentally sighing, he knew he wouldn't be able to throw it, which would have made this so much easier.

Tying one end of the rope around the filter grate on the bottom of the pool, he silently kicked off, holding the other end.

Nami was about ten feet away from him when disaster struck.

He felt something rubbing against his leg, and he looked down, surprised. The rope had seemingly coiled itself around his legs, trapping him underwater. He frantically struggled to free himself, his lungs burning. But the rope just seemed to get tighter the more he struggled.

Stopping to rest, he mentally tried to calm himself down. He knew that the more panicked he was, the faster his heart would beat, and the faster his heart beat, the faster he lost oxygen.

He resumed trying to get free with renewed vigor, but he knew it was no use. Giving up on that, he desperately tried to get someone's attention, but everyone was immersed in a game of water volleyball.

His vision began getting spotty, and his lungs felt like they were on fire. He tried desperately not to breathe the water into his lungs, but it was like trying to stop a cheetah running at full speed using just your hands.

Lights began appearing before his eyes, and he jerkily inhaled a lungful of water. He began involuntarily convulsing, the last few precious bubbles of air meandering up to the surface. The last thing Zoro saw before he blacked out was Buggy's head grinning evilly. The rest of him was invisible.

* * *

When he awoke, he couldn't remember anything that had happened. Probing back into his memory, there was a black area right after he had dived into the pool. Glancing down, he noticed he was still wearing his blue swim trunks. He frowned in confusion.

He opened his eyes to the brightest light he had ever seen. Zoro smashed his eyelids together, moaning, and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. Was he dead?

"ZOOOORROOOO!" A voice screamed. There was the sound of pattering feet and then Zoro was jolted as something smacked into his side.

He opened his eyes to mere slits to try and see what was going on. He saw Luffy straddling him, sitting on his lap. Okay. Definitely not dead.

He sighed and propped himself up on his elbows. "What, Luffy?" he asked.

Luffy blinked in confusion. "You're awake," he pointed out.

Zoro clenched his teeth. He was getting irritated. "Well, duh, Mr. Obvious," he shot back. "Why is that such a big deal, anyway?"

Luffy just stared at him for a minute, before lowering his gaze to look at his hands, whose nails were beginning to dig into Zoro's chest. He swallowed.

"You were dead two hours ago. Don't you remember?"

Time seemed to stop as Luffy said that. He had died? Then how was he…

Zoro stared at Luffy. "Tell me everything," he said, a little softer.

Luffy climbed off his lap and sat in a chair near Zoro. He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. Only then did Zoro notice that Luffy was covered in little cuts and scrapes, and his vest was torn and dirty. The wound on his arm had reopened slightly, and the gauze was beginning to stain red.

"What…happened?" Zoro asked, taking in all of Luffy's injuries.

Luffy followed Zoro's gaze to the cuts on his body. He sighed. "I'll explain," he said, "But let me explain what happened to you first."

Zoro nodded.

Luffy took a deep breath. "Well, it all started when…"

****FLASHBACK****

Luffy fingered the volleyball in his hands as his eyes roved around the court, searching for an opening in the other team's defenses. Finding one, he tossed the ball up in the air and smacked it over the net, where it landed with a _splunk _in the empty spot. He grinned as water showered over everyone.

"No fair!" Nami yelled. "If Zoro was here like he was supposed to be, we wouldn't have lost that point!"

Luffy cackled as he added a point for his team to the scoreboard. "Where _is _Zoro, anyway?" he wondered aloud.

Nami ran her gaze across the surface of the pool. "I don't know," she said, surprised. "Maybe he went inside for a drink or something."

Luffy shrugged. "Maybe." But something was nagging him in the back of his mind. He pushed it away and moved back to his serving position. He smacked the ball over the net, this time not caring if it was aimed for a hole or not.

"I GOT IT!" Usopp screamed. He put his hands together and whacked the ball as hard as he could. It flew over the net and out-of-bounds, landing in the deep end, where it began slowly sinking.

Luffy turned to Usopp. "YOU PUT A HOLE IN IT!" he screamed.

Usopp cowered. "I'm sorry…!"

Luffy scowled before ducking under the water to search for the ball. He didn't see the ball, but what he did see almost made his heart stop.

Zoro was trapped under the water, a rope tied around his legs. He thrashed around, trying to free himself, but he couldn't.

As Luffy watched, Zoro turned to him and met his eyes, obviously trying to tell him something important in his final moments. But before Zoro could get the point across his eyes rolled back in his head and he ceased moving, his heart not beating.

Luffy broke the surface, gasping. "GUYS!" he yelled. "ZORO IS DROWNED! HE'S..." Luffy faltered on the last word, "…DEAD."

With some inner sense that he put on the back burner, Luffy heard his crew's cries and sounds of distress. But he paid them no mind. He struck out across the pool, swimming hard. _Stroke, stroke, breath, stroke… _Only the sheer fact that Zoro could possibly be saved was keeping him from just collapsing out of the pool and crying his heart out.

Reaching the area where Zoro lay, Luffy took a deep breath and plunged into the cool water, bubbles rushing past his face. Kicking his feet, he arrived at the bottom of the pool fairly quickly.

Casting around for the end of the rope, Luffy found it tied to the filter at the bottom of the pool. He frowned and quickly untied the knot. Zoro should have been smart enough to do that, so something must have been preventing him from freeing himself.

Luffy put his hands under Zoro's armpits and, bracing his feet against the bottom of the pool, thrust upwards as hard as he could.

Breaking the surface with a gasp, Luffy looked around to see Chopper out of the pool, waiting for Zoro to be brought up. He heaved as hard as he could and floated Zoro over to him.

Chopper picked Zoro out of the pool and laid him on the deck. Then he interlaced his fingers and began doing CPR while the rest of the crew hovered around nervously.

After the first minute of that with no promising results, Chopper bent down over Zoro and began doing mouth-to-mouth, hoping that forcing air into his patient's lungs would henceforth force the water _out _and he would begin breathing on his own again.

Luffy's eyes wavered as he fixedly stared at Zoro's chest, willing it with all of his soul to inflate again. He swallowed away the hollow feeling in his torso and resumed his vigil.

Two minutes later, when Chopper was on the verge of giving up, water exploded in a rush from Zoro's open mouth, trickling out of the corners. He hurriedly rolled Zoro over to let the water out before continuing mouth-to-mouth.

Luffy's eyes lit up hopefully. Maybe Zoro really would come back to life after all! He sat up a little straighter and blinked away the tears that had started to come to his eyes.

With a jerk, Zoro's chest began raggedly rising and falling again.

A collective sigh of relief from the whole crew let Luffy know that the rest of the crew was just as worried as he was.

Chopper sighed. "He's not out of the woods yet," he said. "We'll have to keep an eye on him."

"Well, well, looks like you got your precious _swordsman _to come back to life," Buggy stepped away from the fence he had camouflaged into and came into view, his mouth crooked into a wicked grin.

Luffy narrowed his eyes and stood up, positioning himself in front of where Zoro lay. It seemed as though Buggy had gained further control over his powers.

"This was all your doing, wasn't it?" he asked scornfully.

Buggy chuckled. "Maybe, maybe not," he waved a hand dismissively. "It's not like you have any proof."

"It sounds to me like you're overly confident," Robin said, stepping up to her captain's side. "You have no idea what we are capable of."

"Not nearly as much now that your…_swordsman,_" he said the word with disgust, "is down for the count."

Luffy's eyes narrowed dangerously and the brim of his hat shaded his eyes from sight. "How _dare _you treat our nakama that way," he growled, "Now you're gonna pay_." _

Buggy chuckled casually as he stood straighter. "Give it your best shot."

The rest of Luffy's crew stood up and assumed their fighting positions around him. Chopper ate a Rumble Ball, and Nami unfolded her Clima-tact. Sanji stretched his legs and Usopp pulled out his slingshot and pulled his scope down over his left eye.

Buggy seemed then to realize how much strength everyone would have together against him. He swallowed and started to look a little nervous, although his voice didn't betray anything.

"Now, now, that's not fair, is it? Six against one?" He crossed his arms.

Luffy raised his eyebrows. "It wasn't fair for you to drown Zoro," He pointed out.

"Of course it was. That was the beginning of our fight."

"No, the beginning of our fight was when you put me in a cage and stabbed Zoro."

"_I _didn't put you in a cage," Buggy pointed out.

"No, but you did send the men who did it."

Buggy seemed to be running out of options. "It's still going to be hard for me to win."

"That's the _point._" Luffy seemed to be getting irritated. "Stand up and fight, you _coward."_

Buggy narrowed his eyes. "Coward? I think not." Then he crossed his arms diagonally over his chest like an 'X' and closed his eyes.

Luffy waited, tense, to see what would happen.

After a few seconds, Buggy flashed his eyes open. They seemed to be alit with fire.

"You will taste defeat…" he hissed, his voice becoming deeper than normal.

Luffy narrowed his eyes.

Buggy snapped his arms outwards, his gaze boring into Luffy. Suddenly a wall of fire surged towards the crew. It shaped itself into a dragon and roared menacingly.

Luffy ducked and rolled away as the fire dragon swooped upwards, wincing as his knee hit a rock. He hoped everyone else was okay. Then he thought of Zoro. Zoro hadn't been able to move! What if he was hurt?

Luffy waited until the dragon had flown high into the sky before running over to Zoro. He wasn't hurt, but Usopp was. Usopp had thrown himself over Zoro's body to protect it, ending up with a scorched back. The cloth of his shirt had singed away, making the red blisters very visible.

Luffy laid a hand-carefully- on Usopp's shoulder. The boy was shaking badly with pain.

"You alright?" Luffy asked, keeping a careful eye on the dragon and Buggy.

Usopp nodded and winced as he tried to get up. Luffy helped him, supporting some of his weight.

Shaking, Usopp retrieved his slingshot and rooted around in his bag. Apparently finding what he was looking for, he fitted the 'star' into the sling. "KETCHUP STAR!" he shouted, letting it go.

Buggy's eyes widened as he saw the ball hurtling towards him. He didn't even have time to duck before it smacked into his face, ketchup exploding everywhere.

Sanji chuckled as he stood, brushing himself off. He had dove under some deck chairs, out of the way of the dragon. But some of the chairs had burnt, raining ashes down into his blond hair.

Nami heaved herself out of the pool before turning around and helping Robin and Chopper out.

Luffy called over to them. "You okay?"

They nodded. "Just shaken up and wet."

Luffy grinned before taking his place in front of Zoro. He put one hand on his knee and the other he clenched into a fist and smacked the ground.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Buggy pull something out from behind him. He turned his head to look at it more clearly. It was a belt of daggers.

Sanji gasped as Buggy tied it around his waist and unsheathed one of them. Luffy was largely unprotected in his current state.

Running over to Luffy, Sanji saw that the first of the daggers had already left Buggy's hand and was flying on a course straight to Luffy's skull. He knew that even if he kept running, he would never make it in time to save his captain. Crouching down, he pushed off of the deck as hard as he could. Hurtling through the air, he arrived just in time to catch the hilt of the blade before crashing into the deck. He picked himself up quickly, breathing hard.

Buggy unsheathed a second dagger.

As Sanji prepared to bloc k it, he saw the fire dragon hurtling downwards towards him.

Doing some calculations in his head, he devised a plan. Since the dragon was going faster than Buggy could throw, he would throw the dagger at the precise moment when the dragon's flames blocked his view. Then he would roll away into the pool.

As the dragon hurtled towards him, he bent his knees, ready. His heart began pounding faster and faster. Right when the dragon blocked his view, he threw the dagger straight at where Buggy had been. Then he moved to roll away.

But before his body could roll, he thought of Luffy. Was Luffy done activating Gear Second? He risked a glance back and saw Luffy straightening up, his eyes gleaming. Said eyes widened when they saw a fire dragon hurtling towards him at extreme speeds.

Sanji jumped into the pool, hoping Luffy would follow. He mentally sighed with relief as he felt a water disturbance a few feet away. He chuckled a bit as he saw the pieces of ash embedded in his hair beginning to float away through the water.

Waiting another thirty seconds to make sure the dragon was gone, he poked his head out of the water. He couldn't see the dragon anywhere, but he did see Buggy tightening a piece of his shirt around a wound on his shoulder. So Sanji _had _hit him.

He heaved himself out of the water and shook his head, spattering water droplets everywhere.

A minute later, Luffy shot out of the pool, landing next to Sanji.

Sanji frowned a bit as he noticed Luffy had a burn on the same arm that Buggy had stabbed before.

"You good?" he asked, motioning to his arm.

Luffy nodded and tightened the bandage on his arm. "I think I opened it up a bit," he winced.

Sanji nodded. "Just be careful."

In the blink of an eye, Sanji had delivered a flurry of kicks to Buggy's body, repeatedly slamming him into the wooden fence.

Adding to it, Luffy jumped in with a "GUM GUM BAZOOKA!" shattering the fence and sending Buggy flying.

Usopp appeared out of nowhere and added an "exploding star" to the fray, sending Buggy even farther away.

Robin ran out with some chains to tie Buggy's hands behind his back. But before she could get close enough to him, he sent out and invisible wave that flung her back to where the rest of the crew was standing.

Nami swung her Clima-tact around and electrocuted the dragon, which was flying high above them.

It roared and began plummeting downwards.

"Uh…guys? I think we may want to move…" she motioned to the dragon, which was heading straight for the pool.

Luffy's eyes widened. Then he had a brilliant idea. "KNOCK OUT BUGGY!" he shouted. "Do whatever it takes! Hurry! The dragon is a figment of his imagination brought to life. If he gets knocked out, the dragon will disappear!"

Usopp ran towards where Buggy had just picked himself up. Coming up behind him, he pulled his hammer out of his pack. "USOPP HAMMER! USOPP HAMMER! USOPP HAMMER!" He hit him multiple times to insure that at least one of them did their job.

Luffy also ran towards him but tripped on the belt of daggers lying on the ground. He winced as several of them pierced his skin, and one dug pretty deeply into his knee. Staggering to his feet, he half ran, half limped as fast as he could to Buggy.

Sanji added his kicks, Nami her Clima-tact, Chopper his powers, and Robin hers as they all strove to knock out Buggy.

As a last ditch effort, all of them hit Buggy at the same time, hoping their combined strength was enough.

And it was. A second before the dragon would hit the water, it vanished.

Everyone sighed with relief.

Robin grabbed the chains and tied Buggy's hands behind him. Then Sanji grabbed Buggy by his feet and unceremoniously threw him onto the deck, where he landed with a loud _thump. _

Luffy rubbed the back of his head, wincing as he stretched his bad arm. "Alright, guys. Sanji, you go cook us something to eat. Chopper, Usopp, you two take Buggy inside and lock him in the secret room in the basement. We'll turn him in tomorrow. Nami, Robin, you two take watch duty and make sure none of Buggy's crew is lurking around. I'll stay here and watch Zoro."

Everyone nodded in agreement at their orders and went to do their respective jobs.

****END FLASHBACK****

"…and that's how I ended up here." Luffy sighed and leaned back in the chair. "You woke up ten minutes later."

Zoro sighed as well. "You need to get your wounds looked at," he said. "Especially that one on your knee."

Luffy looked down and shrugged. "I had to make sure you were okay first."

Zoro smiled and sat up. "Well, I think I'm strong enough to go inside now," he said. "I'm kinda hungry." He swung his feet to the side.

Luffy gave him a hand.

"Thanks," he grunted, pulling himself up. He took a few experimental steps, wincing. His legs hurt where the rope had been tied.

Luffy put Zoro's arm around his shoulders and his hand around Zoro's waist. This way, they were able to walk, Luffy supporting some of Zoro's weight.

Together, they made their way to the house for dinner. But Luffy couldn't even make it to the door before he _had _to yell—

"SAAAANJIIII! I'M HUUUNGRYYYY!"

* * *

**AAAAAND...there she is. Complete. It's taken me a while to get this done, but I think it turned out great, if I do say so myself. This is my new favorite chapter. I changed my mind again. xD Make sure to review and tell me what you think! And, while you're at it, you should definitely join the Review Revolution. That's when you review every story you read. When I get reviews, it makes me happy, and I know it makes other people happy too. So JOIN THE REVOLUTION! Or no cookies for you!**


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